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Charles    Josselyn 


PSYCH 


IIUUAIff— 


"THE  LIFE  BOOKS 


The  Higher  Powers  of  Mind  and  Spirit      Thousand 

This  late  book  by  Mr.  Trine  is.  in  the  opinion 
of  some,  his  finest  and  strongest  work— a  book  of 
absorbing  interest  and  power,  and  intensely  practical. 

In  Tune  With  the  Infinite  Thousand 

"It  is  one  of  the  simplest,  clearest  works  ever 
written,  dealing  with  power  of  the  interior  forces 
in  moulding  the  everyday  conditions  of  life."— (Saw 
Fra it cisco  Ihilief  in. 

What  All  the  World's  A-seeking  niSS^a* 

"The  volume  abounds  in  passages  of  great 
beauty  and  strength;  but  the  striking  feature  of 
the  book  is,  after  all,  the  solid,  sensible,  healthy 
exposition  of  the  one  theme  it  is  written  to  en- 
force."— New  York  Independent. 

The  New  Alinement  of  Life  Thousand 

The  object  of  this  work  by  Mr.  Trine,  expressed 
in  a  single  sentence,  is  to  bring  the  teachings  of  the 
Christian  faith  in  line  with  the  outlook,  the  need, 
and  the  determination  of  our  times. 

In  the  Hollow  of  His  Hand  Thousand 

"A  characteristic  and  powerful  plea  for  fresh 
applications  of  Christianity,  it  will  be  eagerly  read 
by  devout  readers  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic." 
— The  Scotsman,  Edinburgh. 

This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours  Thousand 

Selections  of  two  to  three  pages  for  each 
week  through  the  year  from  the  works  of  Ralph 
Waldo  Trine. 

Each  Volume,  $1.75 


MR.  TRINE'S  LATEST  BOOK 
My  Philosophy  and  My  Religion 

It  is  a  clear,  forceful  statement  of  a  Way  of  Life 
that  will  unfold  an  engine  of  power  for  use  in  the 
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THIS  MYSTICAL 
LIFE  OF  OURS 


BY 


RALPH    WALDO    TRINE 


NEW  YORK 
DODD,   MEAD  &  COMPANY 

1919 


Copyright,  i896,  1897,  1898,  1899,  1900,  1906, 
By  RALPH  WALDO  TRINE 

Copyright,  1907, 
By  RALPH   WALDO  TRINE 

PSYCH. 

LIBRARV 


CONTENTS 


I.  The  Fresh  Beginning     .... 

II.  The  Supreme  Fact  of  Human  Life    . 

III.  The  Creative  Power  of  Thought     . 

IV.  The  Drawing  Power  of  Mind     . 
V.  Creating  One's  Own  Atmosphere      . 

VI.  The  Law  of  Attraction  Works  Unceas 

INGLY 

VII.  The  Law  of  Prosperity 

VIII.  The  Law  of  Habit-Forming  . 

IX.  Actualizing  One's  Ideals 

X.  Faith  and  Prayer— Their  Nature 

XI.  The  Petty  Personal  and  the  Larger  Uni 

versal       

XII.  The  Poem  Hangs  on  the  Berry-Bush 

XIII.  The  Influence  of  Our  Prevailing  Mental 

States  Upon  Others    . 

XIV.  Saviors  One  of  Another 
XV.    Not  Repression,  but  Self -Mastery 

XVI.  Thoughts  Are  Forces    . 

XVII.  All  Life  from  Within    . 

XVIII  Heredity  and  the  Higher  Power 

XIX.  Castles  in  the  Air  . 


PAGE 

3 

6 

10 

13 
16 


19 
23 

27 

30 
33 

36 
39 

43 
47 
5o 
53 
56 
60 

63 


6i585r 


«7 


viii  Contents 

PAGE 

XX.    The  Anchor  or  the  Sensitively  Organ- 
ized       66 

XXI.    How  We  Attract  Success  or  Failure  .    69 
XXII.    Fear  Brings  Failure        .       .       .       .71 

XXIII.  Heart  Training  Through  the  Animal 

World 74 

XXIV.  The  Secret  and  the  Power  of  Love     .     78 
XXV.    Then  Give  to  the  World  the  Best 

You  Have,  and  the  Best  Well  Come 

Back  to  You 82 

XXVI.    Hatred  Never  Ceases  by  Hatred,  but 

by  Love 86 

XXVII.    Thought  and  Its  Intelligent  Defec- 
tion       89 

XXVIII.    Will— The  Human  and  the  Divine     .     92 
XXIX.    The  Secret  of  the  Highest  Power    .     95 
XXX.    Wisdom:  or  Interior  Illumination      .     99 
XXXI.    Let  There  Be  Many  Windows  in  Your 

Soul 103 

XXXII.    As  to  the  Quality  of  Our  Education  107 

XXXIII.  A  New  Order  of  Patriotism  .       .       .111 

XXXIV.  Men  of   Exceptional  Executive  and 

Financial  Abh.it y 116 

XXXV.    An  Example— A  Very  Young  Old  Lady  119 
XXXVI.    How  Mind  Builds  Body  .       .       -       .123 

XXXVII.    Soul  Radiance 127 

XXXVIII.    Intuition:  The  Voice  of  the  Soul      .  131 

XXXIX.      MIRACLES  AND  THE  HlGHER  Ld?E      .         .    1 34 

XL.    The  Voice  of  the  Higher  Self    .      .  137 


Contents  ix 

PAGE 

XLI.    The  Soul  Must  Be  Made  Translucent 

to  the  Divine I4I 

XLIL    Receiving  Instruction  During  Sleep  .  144 
XLIII.    The  Joseph  Type   Both  Dreams  and 

Interprets 148 

XLIV.     Humaneness  in  our  Diet       .      .       .152 

XLV.    To  Be  at  Peace 156 

XL VI.    Courage  Begets  Strength;  Fear  Be- 
gets Weakness 161 

XL VII.    "And  What  Is  Mine  Shall  Know  My 

Face" 166 

XL VIII.    Heredity  and  Environment — Are  We 

Bound  by  Them? 169 

XLIX.    Preserving  One's  Individuality    .       .  173 
L.    Exclusiveness      and      Inclusiveness  : 

What  They  Indicate     .       .       .       .  177 

LI.    The  Nature  of  Real  Riches        .       .  181 

Lll.    A  Method  of  Attainment       .      .      .185 


THIS   MYSTICAL   LIFE   OF   OURS 


I. 

THE   FRESH    BEGINNING. 

When  one  awakes  from  sleep  and  so  returns 
to  conscious  life,  he  is  in  a  peculiarly  receptive 
and  impressionable  state.  All  relations  with  the 
material  world  have  for  a  time  been  shut  off,  the 
mind  is  in  a  freer  and  more  natural  state,  resem- 
bling somewhat  a  sensitive  plate,  where  impressions 
can  readily  leave  their  traces.  This  is  why  many 
times  the  highest  and  truest  impressions  come  to 
one  in  the  early  morning  hours,  before  the  activities 
of  the  day  and  their  attendant  distractions  have 
exerted  an  influence.  This  is  one  reason  why  many 
^people  can  do  their  best  work  in  the  early  hours  of 
the  day. 

But  this  fact  is  also  a  most  valuable  one  in  con- 
nection with  the  moulding  of  every-day  life.  The 
mind  is  at  this  time  as  a  clean  sheet  of  paper. 
We  can  most  valuably  use  this  quiet,  receptive,  im- 
pressionable period  by  wisely  directing  the  activities 
of  the  mind  along  the  highest  and  most  desirable 
paths,  and  thus,  so  to  speak,  set  the  pace  for  the 
day. 

Each  morning  is  a  fresh  beginning.  We  are,  as 
it  were,  just  beginning  life.  We  have  it  entirely 
in  our  own  hands.  And  when  the  morning  with  its 
fresh  beginning   comes,   all   yesterdays    should  be 


4  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

yesterdays,  with  which  we  have  nothing  to  do. 
Sufficient  is  it  to  know  that  the  way  we  lived  our 
yesterday  has  determined  for  us  our  today.  And, 
again,  when  the  morning  with  its  fresh  beginning 
comes,  all  tomorrows  should  be  tomorrows,  with 
which  we  have  nothing  to  do.  Sufficient  to  know 
that  the  way  we  live  our  today  determines  our  to- 
morrow. 

"Every  day  is  a  fresh  beginning, 

Every  morn  is  the  world  made  new; 
You  who  are  weary  of  sorrow  and  sinning, 
Here  is  a  beautiful  hope  for  you, 
A  hope  for  me  and  a  hope  for  you. 

"All  the  past  things  are  past  and  over, 

The  tasks  are  done,  and  the  tears  are  shed. 
Yesterday's  errors  let  yesterday  cover; 

Yesterday's  wounds,  which  smarted  and  bled, 
Are  healed  with  the  healing  which  night  has  shed. 
******* 
"Let  them  go,  since  we  cannot  relieve  them, 
Cannot  undo  and  cannot  atone. 
God  in  His  mercy  receive,  forgive  them!- 
Only  the  new  days  are  our  own. 
Today  is  ours,  and  today  alone. 

"Here  are  the  skies  all  burnished  brightly; 
Here  is  the  spent  earth  all  reborn ; 
Here  are  the  tired  limbs  springing  lightly 
To  face  the  sun  and  to  share  with  the  morn 
In  the  chrism  of  dew  and  the  cool  of  dawn. 

"Every  day  is  a  fresh  beginning, 

Listen,  my  soul,  to  the  glad  refrain, 
And,  spite  of  old  sorrow  and  older  sinning, 
And  puzzles  forecasted,  and  possible  pain, 
Take  heart  with  the  day  and  begin  again." 


The  Fresh  Beginning  5 

Simply  the  first  hour  of  this  new  day,  with  all 
its  richness  and  glory,  with  all  its  sublime  and 
eternity-determining  possibilities,  and  each  succeed- 
ing hour  as  it  comes,  but  not  before  it  comes.  This 
is  the  secret  of  character  building.  This  simple 
method  will  bring  any  one  to  the  realization  of  the 
highest  life  that  can  be  even  conceived  of,  and 
there  is  nothing  in  this  connection  that  can  be  con- 
ceived of  that  cannot  be  realized  somehow,  some- 
when,  somewhere. 

This  brings  such  a  life  within  the  possibilities 
of  all,  for  there  is  no  one,  if  really  in  earnest  and 
if  he  really  desires  it,  who  cannot  live  to  his  highest 
for  a  single  hour.  But  even  though  there  should 
be,  if  he  is  only  earnest  in  his  endeavor,  then, 
through  the  law  that  like  builds  like,  he  will  be 
able  to  come  a  little  nearer  to  it  the  next  hour,  and 
still  nearer  the  next,  and  the  next,  until  sooner  or 
later  comes  the  time  when  it  becomes  the  natural, 
and  any  other  would  require  the  effort. 

In  this  way  one  becomes  in  love  and  in  league 
with  the  highest  and  best  in  the  universe,  and  as  a 
consequence,  the  highest  and  best  in  the  universe 
becomes  in  love  and  in  league  with  him.  They  aid 
him  at  every  turn;  they  seem  literally  to  move  all 
things  his  way,  because,  forsooth,  he  has  first  moved 
their  way. 

Tn  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


II. 

THE   SUPREME  FACT  OF   HUMAN   LIFE. 

The  great  central  fact  in  human  life  is  the  coming 
into  a  conscious,  vital  realization  of  our  oneness 
with  the  Infinite  Life,  and  the  opening  of  Ourselves 
fully  to  this  divine  inflow.  I  and  the  Father  are 
one,  said  the  Master.  In  this  we  see  how  he  recog- 
nized his  oneness  with  the  Father's  life.  Again  he 
said,  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  I  speak  not 
of  myself:  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  He 
doeth  the  works.  In  this  we  see  how  clearly  he 
recognized  the  fact  that  he  of  himself  could  do 
nothing,  only  as  he  worked  in  conjunction  with  the 
Father.  Again,  My  Father  works  and  I  work.  In 
other  words,  my  Father  sends  the  power,  I  open 
myself  to  it,  and  work  in  conjunction  with  it. 

Again  he  said,  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you.  And  he  left  us  not  in  the  dark 
as  to  exactly  what  he  meant  by  this,  for  again  he 
said,  Say  not  Lo  here  nor  lo  there;  know  ye  not 
that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you?  Ac- 
cording to  his  teaching  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  were  one  and  the  same.  If, 
then,  his  teaching  is  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
within  us,  do  we  not  clearly  see  that,  putting  it  in 


The  Supreme  Fact  of  Human  Life  7 

other  words,  his  injunction  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than,  Come  ye  into  a  conscious  realization  of 
your  oneness  with  the  Father's  life.  As  you  realize 
this  oneness  you  find  the  kingdom,  and  when  you 
find  this,  all  things  else  shall  follow. 

Again,  the  Master  said,  Call  no  man  your  Father 
upon  the  earth :  for  one  is  your  Father,  which  is  in 
heaven.  Here  he  recognized  the  fact  that  the  real 
life  is  direct  from  the  life  of  God.  Our  fathers 
and  our  mothers  are  the  agents  that  give  us  the 
bodies,  the  houses  in  which  we  live,  but  the  real 
life  comes  from  the  Infinite  Source  of  Life,  God, 
who  is  our  Father. 

One  day  word  was  brought  to  the  Master  that 
his  mother  and  his  brethren  were  without,  wishing 
to  speak  with  him.  Who  is  my  mother  and  who 
are  my  brethren?  said  he.  Whosoever  shall  do  the 
will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is 
my  brother,  and  my  sister,  and  mother. 

Many  people  are  greatly  enslaved  by  what  we 
term  ties  of  relationship.  It  is  well,  however,  for 
us  to  remember  that  our  true  relatives  are  not 
necessarily  those  who  are  connected  with  us  by  ties 
of  blood.  Our  truest  relatives  are  those  who  are 
nearest  akin  to  us  in  mind,  in  soul,  in  spirit.  Our 
nearest  relatives  may  be  those  living  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  globe, — people  whom  we  may  never  have 
seen  as  yet,  but  to  whom  we  will  yet  be  drawn, 
either  in  this  form  of  life  or  in  another,  through 


8  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

that  ever  working  and  never  failing  law  of  attrac- 
tion. 

When  the  Master  gave  the  injunction,  Call  no 
man  your  father  upon  the  earth:  for  one  is  your 
Father,  which  is  in  heaven,  he  here  gave  us  the 
basis  for  that  grand  conception  of  the  fatherhood 
of  God.  And  if  God  is  equally  the  Father  of  all, 
then  we  have  here  the  basis  for  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  But  there  is,  in  a  sense,  a  conception  still 
higher  than  this,  namely,  the  oneness  of  man  and 
God,  and  hence  the  oneness  of  the  whole  human 
race.  When  we  realize  this  fact,  then  we  clearly  see 
how  in  the  degree  that  we  come  into  the  realization 
of  our  oneness  with  the  Infinite  Life,  and  so,  every 
step  that  we  make  Godward,  we  aid  in  lifting  all 
mankind  up  to  this  realization,  and  enable  them,  in 
turn,  to  make  a  step  Godward. 

The  Master  again  pointed  out  our  true  relations 
with  the  Infinite  Life  when  he  said,  Except  ye  be- 
come as  little  children  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  When  he  said,  Man  shall  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  pro- 
ceeded out  of  the  mouth  of  God,  he  gave  utterance 
to  a  truth  of  far  greater  import  than  we  have  as 
yet  commenced  fully  to  grasp.  Here  he  taught  that 
even  the  physical  life  can  not  be  maintained  by  ma- 
terial food  alone,  but  that  one's  connection  with  this 
Infinite  Source  determines  to  a  very  great  extent 
the  condition  of  even  the  bodily  structure  and  activ- 
ities. 


The  Supreme  Fact  of  Human  Life  9 

Said  the  great  Hindu  sage,  Manu,  He  who  in  his 
own  soul  perceives  the  Supreme  Soul  in  all  beings, 
and  acquires  equanimity  toward  them  all,  attains 
the  highest  bliss.  It  was  Athanasius  who  said, 
Even  we  may  become  Gods  walking  about  in  the 
flesh.  The  same  great  truth  we  are  considering  is 
the  one  that  runs  through  the  life  and  the  teach- 
ings of  Guatama,  who  became  the  Buddha.  People 
are  in  bondage,  said  he,  because  they  have  not 
yet  removed  the  idea  of  /.  To  do  away  with  all 
sense  of  separateness,  and  to  recognize  the  oneness 
of  the  self  with  the  Infinite,  is  the  spirit  that 
breathes  through  all  his  teachings. 

All  the  prophets,  seers,  sages,  and  saviours  in  the 
world's  history  became  what  they  became,  and  con- 
sequently had  the  powers  they  had,  through  an  en- 
tirely natural  process.  They  all  recognized  and 
came  into  the  conscious  realization  of  their  oneness 
with  the  Infinite  Life.  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. He  doesn't  create  prophets,  seers,  sages,  and 
saviours  as  such.  He  creates  men.  But  here  and 
there  one  recognizes  his  true  identity,  recognizes 
the  oneness  of  his  life  with  the  Source  whence  it 
came.  He  lives  in  the  realization  of  this  oneness, 
and  in  turn  becomes  a  prophet,  seer,  sage,  or 
saviour. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


III. 

THE    CREATIVE    POWER    OF    THOUGHT. 

Of  the  vital  power  of  thought  and  the  interior 
forces  in  moulding  conditions,  and  more,  of  the 
supremacy  of  thought  over  all  conditions,  the  world 
has  scarcely  the  faintest  grasp,  not  to  say  even  idea, 
as  yet.  The  fact  that  thoughts  are  forces,  and  that 
through  them  we  have  creative  power,  is  one  of  the 
most  vital  facts  of  the  universe,  the  most  vital  fact 
of  man's  being.  And  through  this  instrumentality 
we  have  in  our  grasp  and  as  our  rightful  heritage, 
the  power  of  making  life  and  all  its  manifold  con- 
ditions exactly  what  we  will. 

Through  our  thought- forces  we  have  creative 
power,  not  in  a  figurative  sense,  but  in  reality. 
Everything  in  the  material  universe  about  us  had 
its  origin  first  in  spirit,  in  thought,  and  from  this 
it  took  its  form.  The  very  world  in  which  we  live, 
with  all  its  manifold  wonders  and  sublime  manifes- 
tations, is  the  result  of  the  energies  of  the  divine 
intelligence  or  mind, — God,  or  whatever  term  it 
comes  convenient  for  each  one  to  use.  And  God 
said,  Let  there  be,  and  there  was, — the  material 
world,  at  least  the  material  manifestation  of  it, 
literally   spoken  into  existence,  the   spoken  word, 


The  Creative  Power  of  Thought  II 

however,  but  the  outward  manifestation  of  the  in- 
terior forces  of  the  Supreme  Intelligence. 

Every  castle  the  world  has  ever  seen  was  first 
an  ideal  in  the  architect's  mind.  Every  statue  was 
first  an  ideal  in  the  sculptor's  mind.  Every  piece 
of  mechanism  the  world  has  ever  known  was  first 
formed  in  the  mind  of  the  inventor.  Here  it  was 
given  birth  to.  These  same  mind-forces  then  dic- 
tated to  and  sent  the  energy  into  the  hand  that  drew 
the  model,  and  then  again  dictated  to  and  sent  the 
energy  into  the  hands  whereby  the  first  instrument 
was  clothed  in  the  material  form  of  metal  or  of 
wood.  The  lower  negative  always  gives  way  to  the 
higher  when  made  positive.  Mind  is  positive :  mat- 
ter is  negative. 

Each  individual  life  is  a  part  of,  and  hence  is 
one  with,  the  Infinite  Life;  and  the  highest  intel- 
ligence and  power  belongs  to  each  in  just  the  de- 
gree that  he  recognizes  his  oneness  and  lays  claim 
to  and  uses  it.  The  power  of  the  word  is  not  mere- 
ly an  idle  phrase  or  form  of  expression.  It  is  a 
real  mental,  spiritual,  scientific  fact,  and  can  be- 
come vital  and  powerful  in  your  hands  and  in  mine 
in  just  the  degree  that  we  understand  the  omnip- 
otence of  the  thought  forces  and  raise  all  to  the 
higher  planes. 

The  blind,  the  lame,  the  diseased,  stood  before 
the  Christ,  who  said,  Receive  thy  sight,  rise  up  and 
walk,  or,  be  thou  healed;  and  lo!  it  was  so.  The 
spoken  word,  however,  was  but  the  outward  ex- 


12  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

pression  and  manifestation  of  his  interior  thought- 
forces,  the  power  and  potency  of  which  he  so  thor- 
oughly knew.  But  the  laws  governing  them  are 
the  same  to-day  as  they  were  then,  and  it  lies  in  our 
power  to  use  them  the  same  as  it  lay  in  his. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


IV. 

THE   DRAWING    POWER   OF   MIND. 

Each  individual  life,  after  it  has  reached  a  cer- 
tain age  or  degree  of  intelligence,  lives  in  the  midst 
of  the  surroundings  or  environments  of  its  own  crea- 
tion; and  this  by  reason  of  that  wonderful  power, 
the  drawing  power  of  mind,  which  is  continually- 
operating  in  every  life,  whether  it  is  conscious  of  it 
or  not. 

We  are  all  living,  so  to  speak,  in  a  vast  ocean  of 
thought.  The  very  atmosphere  about  us  is  charged 
with  the  thought-forces  that  are  being  continually 
sent  out.  When  the  thought-forces  leave  the  brain, 
they  go  out  upon  the  atmosphere,  the  subtle  con- 
ducting ether,  much  the  same  as  sound-waves  go 
out.  It  is  by  virtue  of  this  law  that  thought  trans- 
ference is  possible,  and  has  become  an  established 
scientific  fact,  by  virtue  of  which  a  person  can  so 
direct  his  thought-forces  that  a  person  at  a  distance, 
and  in  a  receptive  attitude,  can  get  the  thought 
much  the  same  as  sound,  for  example,  is  conducted 
through  the  agency  of  a  connecting  medium. 

Even  though  the  thoughts  as  they  leave  a  par- 
ticular person,  are  not  consciously  directed,  they  go 
out ;  and  all  may  be  influenced  by  them  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  each  one  in  proportion  as  he  or  she 


14  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

is  more  or  less  sensitively  organized,  or  in  propor- 
tion as  he  or  she  is  negative,  and  so  open  to  forces 
and  influences  from  without.  The  law  operating 
here  is  one  with  that  great  law  of  the  universe, — 
that  like  attracts  like,  so  that  one  continually  at- 
tracts to  himself  forces  and  influences  most  akin  to 
those  of  his  own  life.  And  his  own  life  is  deter- 
mined by  the  thoughts  and  emotions  he  habitually 
entertains,  for  each  is  building  his  world  from 
within.    As  within,  so  without ;  cause,  effect. 

A  stalk  of  wheat  and  a  stalk  of  corn  are  growing 
side  by  side,  within  an  inch  of  each  other.  The 
soil  is  the  same  for  both;  but  the  wheat  converts 
the  food  it  takes  from  the  soil  into  wheat,  the  like- 
ness of  itself,  while  the  corn  converts  the  food  it 
takes  from  the  same  soil  into  corn,  the  likeness  of 
itself.  What  that  which  each  has  taken  from  the 
soil  is  converted  into  is  determined  by  the  soul,  the 
interior  life,  the  interior  forces  of  each.  This  same 
grain  taken  as  food  by  two  persons  will  be  con- 
verted into  the  body  of  a  criminal  in  the  one  case, 
and  into  the  body  of  a  saint  in  the  other,  each  after 
its  kind;  and  its  kind  is  determined  by  the  inner 
life  of  each.  And  what  again  determines  the  inner 
life  of  each?  The  thoughts  and  emotions  that  are 
habitually  entertained  and  that  inevitably,  sooner 
or  later,  manifest  themselves  in  outer  material  form. 
Thought  is  the  great  builder  in  human  life :  it  is  the 
determining  factor.  Continually  _trrink  thoughts 
that  are  good,  and  your  life  will  show  forth  in 


The  Drawing  Power  of  Mind  15 

goodness,  and  your  body  in  health  and  beauty. 
Continually  think  evil  thoughts,  and  your  life  will 
show  forth  in  evil,  and  your  body  in  weakness  and 
repulsiveness.  Think  thoughts  of  love,  and  you 
will  love  and  will  be  loved.  Think  thoughts  of 
hatred,  and  you  will  hate  and  will  be  hated.  Each 
follows  its  kind. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


V. 

CREATING    ONE'S    OWN    ATMOSPHERE. 

It  is  by  virtue  of  this  law  that  each  person 
creates  his  own  "  atmosphere " ;  and  this  atmos- 
phere is  determined  by  the  character  of  the 
thoughts  he  habitually  entertains.  It  is,  in  fact, 
simply  his  thought  atmosphere — the  atmosphere 
which  other  people  detect  and  are  influenced  by. 

In  this  way  each  person  creates  the  atmosphere 
of  his  own  room;  a  family,  the  atmosphere  of  the 
house  in  which  they  live,  so  that  the  moment  you 
enter  the  door  you  feel  influences  kindred  to  the 
thoughts  and  hence  to  the  lives  of  those  who  dwell 
there.  You  get  a  feeling  of  peace  and  harmony  or 
a  feeling  of  disquietude  and  inharmony.  You  get 
a  welcome,  want-to-stay  feeling  or  a  cold,  want- 
to-get-away  feeling,  according  to  their  thought  at- 
titude toward  you,  even  though  but  few  words  be 
spoken.  So  the  characteristic  mental  states  of  a 
congregation  of  people  who  assemble  there  deter- 
mine the  atmosphere  of  any  given  assembly-place, 
church,  or  cathedral.  Its  inhabitants  so  make,  so 
determine  the  atmosphere  of  a  particular  village  or 
city.  The  sympathetic  thoughts  sent  out  by  a  vast 
amphitheatre  of  people,  as  they  cheer  a  contestant, 
carry  him  to  goals  he  never  could  reach  by  his  own 


Creating  One  s  Ozvn  Atmosphere 

efforts   alone.     The  same  is  true  in  regard  t 
orator  and  his  audience. 

Napoleon's  army  is  in  the  East.     The  plague  is 
beginning  to  make  inroads  into  its  ranks.     Long 
lines  of  men  are  lying  on  cots  and  on  the  ground 
in  an  open  space  adjoining  the  army.     Fear  has 
taken  a  vital  hold  of  all,  and  the  men  are  continu- 
ally being  stricken.     Look  yonder :  contrary  to  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  his  officers,  who  tell  him  that 
such  exposure  will  mean  sure  death,  Napoleon  with 
a  calm  and  dauntless  look  upon  his  face,  with  a  firm 
and  defiant  step,  is  coming  through  these  plague- 
stricken  ranks.     He  is  going  up  to,  talking  with, 
touching  the  men ;  and,  as  they  see  him,  there  goes 
up  a  mighty  shout,— The  Emperor !  the  Emperor ! 
and   from  that  hour  the  plague  in  its   inroads   is 
stopped.    A  marvellous  example  of  the  power  of  a 
man  who,  by  his  own  dauntless  courage,  absolute 
fearlessness,   and  power  of  mind,   could  send  out 
such   forces  that  they  in  turn   awakened   kindred 
forces  in  the  minds  of  thousands  of  others,  which 
in   turn   dominate   their  very   bodies,   so   that   the 
plague,  and  even  death  itself,  is  driven  from  the 
field.     One  of  the  grandest  examples  of  a  man  of 
the  most  mighty   and  tremendous  mind   and  will 
power,  and  at  the  same  time  an  example  of  one  of 
the  grandest  failures,  taking  life  in  its  totality,  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

We  are  all  much  more  influenced  by  the  thought- 


This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

.ces  and  mental  states  of  those  around  us  and 
of  the  world  at  large  than  we  have  even  the  slight- 
est conception  of.  If  not  self-hypnotized  into  cer- 
tain beliefs  and  practices,  we  are,  so  to  speak,  semi- 
hypnotized  through  the  influence  of  the  thoughts 
of  others,  even  though  unconsciously  both  on  their 
part  and  on  ours.  We  are  so  influenced  and  en- 
slaved in  just  the  degree  that  we  fail  to  recognize 
the  power  and  omnipotence  of  our  own  forces,  and 
so  become  slaves  to  custom,  conventionality,  the 
opinions  of  others,  and  so  in  like  proportion  lose  our 
own  individuality  and  powers. 

Each  is  building  his  world  from  within,  and,  if 
outside  forces  play,  it  is  because  he  allows  them  to 
play ;  and  he  has  it  in  his  own  power  to  determine 
whether  these  shall  be  positive,  uplifting,  ennobling, 
strengthening,  success-giving,  or  negative,  degrad- 
ing, weakening,  failure-bringing. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


VI. 

THE    LAW    OF    ATTRACTION    WORKS 
UNCEASINGLY. 

If  one  hold  himself  in  the  thought  of  poverty,  he 
will  be  poor,  and  the  chances  are  that  he  will  re- 
main in  poverty.  If  he  hold  himself,  whatever  pres- 
ent conditions  may  be,  continually  in  the  thought 
of  prosperity,  he  sets  into  operation  forces  that  will 
sooner  or  later  bring  him  into  prosperous  condi- 
tions. The  law  of  attraction  works  unceasingly 
throughout  the  universe,  and  the  one  great  and 
never  changing  fact  in  connection  with  it  is,  as  we 
have  found,  that  like  attracts  like.  If  we  are  one 
with  this  Infinite  Power,  this  source  of  all  things, 
then  in  the  degree  that  we  live  in  the  realization  of 
this  oneness,  in  that  degree  do  we  actualize  in  our- 
selves a  power  that  will  bring  to  us  an  abundance 
of  all  things  that  it  is  desirable  for  us  to  have.  In 
this  way  we  come  into  possession  of  a  power  where- 
by we  can  actualize  at  all  times  those  conditions 
that  we  desire. 

As  all  truth  exists  now,  and  awaits  simply  our 
perception  of  it,  so  all  things  necessary  for  present 
needs  exist  now,  and  await  simply  the  power  in  us 
to  appropriate  them.     God  holds  all  things  in  His 


20  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

hands.  His  constant  word  is,  My  child,  acknowl- 
edge me  in  all  your  ways,  and  in  the  degree  that 
you  do  this,  in  the  degree  that  you  live  this,  then 
what  is  mine  is  yours.  Jehovah- jireh, — the  Lord 
will  provide.  "  He  giveth  to  all  men  liberally  and 
upbraideth  not."  He  giveth  liberally  to  all  men 
who  put  themselves  in  the  right  attitude  to  receive 
from  Him.  He  forces  no  good  things  upon  any 
one. 

The  old  and  somewhat  prevalent  idea  of  godliness 
and  poverty  has  absolutely  no  basis  for  its  existence, 
and  the  sooner  we  get  away  from  it  the  better.  It 
had  its  birth  in  the  same  way  that  the  idea  of 
asceticism  came  into  existence,  when  the  idea  pre- 
vailed that  there  was  necessarily  a  warfare  between 
the  flesh  and  the  spirit.  It  had  its  origin  therefore 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  had  a  distorted  a  one- 
sided view  of  life.  True  godliness  is  in  a  sense  the 
same  as  true  wisdom.  The  one  who  is  truly  wise, 
and  who  uses  the  forces  and  powers  with  which  he 
is  endowed,  to  him  the  great  universe  always  opens 
her  treasure  house. 

Are  you  out  of  a  situation?  Let  the  fear  that 
you  will  not  get  another  take  hold  of  and  dominate 
you,  and  the  chances  are  that  it  may  be  a  long  time 
before  you  will  get  another,  or  the  one  that  you  do 
get  may  be  a  very  poor  one  indeed.  Whatever  the 
circumstances,  you  must  realize  that  you  have  with- 
in you  forces  and  powers  that  you  can  set  into 


The  Law  of  Attraction   Works   Unceasingly  21 

operation  that  will  triumph  over  any  and  all  ap- 
parent or  temporary  losses.  Set  these  forces  into 
operation  and  you  will  then  be  placing  a  magnet 
that  will  draw  to  you  a  situation  that  may  be  far 
better  than  the  one  you  have  lost,  and  the  time  may 
soon  come  when  you  will  be  even  thankful  that  you 
lost  the  old  one. 

Recognize,  working  in  and  through  you,  the  same 
Infinite  Power  that  creates  and  governs  all  things 
in  the  universe,  the  same  Infinite  Power  that  gov- 
erns the  endless  systems  of  worlds  in  space.  Send 
out  your  thought, — thought  is  a  force,  and  it  has 
occult  power  of  unknown  proportions  when  rightly 
used  and  wisely  directed, — send  out  your  thought 
that  the  right  situation  or  the  right  work  will  come 
to  you  at  the  right  time,  in  the  right  way,  and  that 
you  will  recognize  it  when  it  comes.  Hold  to  this 
thought,  never  allow  it  to  weaken,  hold  to  it,  and 
continually  water  it  with  firm  expectation.  You  in 
this  way  put  your  advertisement  into  a  psychical,  a 
spiritual  newspaper,  a  paper  that  has  not  a  limited 
circulation,  but  one  that  will  make  its  way  not  only 
to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  earth,  but  of  the  very 
universe  itself.  It  is  an  advertisement,  moreover, 
which  if  rightly  placed  on  your  part,  will  be  far 
more  effective  than  any  advertisement  you  could 
possibly  put  into  any  printed  sheet,  no  matter  what 
claims  are  made  in  regard  to  its  being  "  the  great 
advertising  medium."  In  the  degree  that  you  come 
into  this  realization  and  live  in  harmony  with  the 


22  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

higher  laws  and  forces,  in  that  degree  will  you  be 
able  to  do  this  effectively. 

If  you  wish  to  look  through  the  "  want "  columns 
of  the  newspapers,  then  do  it,  but  not  in  the  ordinary 
way.  Put  the  higher  forces  into  operation  and  thus 
place  it  on  a  higher  basis. 

If  you  get  the  situation  and  it  does  not  prove  to 
be  exactly  what  you  want,  if  you  feel  that  you  are 
capable  of  filling  a  better  one,  then  the  moment  you 
enter  upon  it  take  the  attitude  of  mind  that  this 
situation  is  the  stepping-stone  that  will  lead  you  to 
one  that  will  be  still  better.  Hold  this  thought 
steadily,  affirm  it,  believe  it,  expect  it,  and  all  the 
time  be  faithful,  absolutely  faithful  to  the  situation 
in  which  you  are  at  present  placed.  If  you  are  not 
faithful  to  it  then  the  chances  are  that  it  will  not 
be  the  stepping-stone  to  something  better,  but  to 
something  poorer.  If  you  are  faithful  to  it,  the 
time  may  soon  come  when  you  will  be  glad  and 
thankful,  when  you  will  rejoice,  that  you  lost  your 
old  position. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


VII. 
THE   LAW   OF    PROSPERITY. 

This  is  the  law  of  prosperity :  When  apparent  ad- 
versity comes,  be  not  cast  down  by  it,  but  make  the 
best  of  it,  and  always  look  forward  for  better 
things,  for  conditions  more  prosperous.  To  hold 
yourself  in  this  attitude  of  mind  is  to  set  into  opera- 
tion subtle,  silent,  and  irresistible  forces  that  sooner 
or  later  will  actualize  in  material  form  that  which 
is  today  merely  an  idea.  But  ideas  have  occult 
power,  and  ideas,  when  rightly  planted  and  rightly 
tended,  are  the  seeds  that  actualize  material  condi- 
tions. 

Never  give  a  moment  to  complaint,  but  utilize 
the  time  that  would  otherwise  be  spent  in  this  way 
in  looking  forward  and  actualizing  the  conditions 
you  desire.  Suggest  prosperity  to  yourself.  See 
yourself  in  a  prosperous  condition.  Affirm  that  you 
will  before  long  be  in  a  prosperous  condition.  Af- 
firm it  calmly  and  quietly,  but  strongly  and  con- 
fidently. Believe  it,  believe  it  absolutely.  Expect 
it— keep  it  continually  watered  with  expectation. 
You  thus  make  yourself  a  magnet  to  attract  the 
things  that  you  desire.  Don't  be  afraid  to  suggest, 
to  affirm  these  things,  for  by  so  doing  you  put  forth 
an  ideal  which  will  begin  to  clothe  itself  in  material 


24  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

form.  In  this  way  you  are  utilizing  agents  among 
the  most  subtle  and  powerful  in  the  universe.  If 
you  are  particularly  desirous  for  anything  that  you 
feel  it  is  good  and  right  for  you  to  have,  something 
that  will  broaden  your  life  or  that  will  increase 
your  usefulness  to  others,  simply  hold  the  thought 
that  at  the  right  time,  in  the  right  way,  and  through 
the  right  instrumentality,  there  will  come  to  you  or 
there  will  open  up  for  you  the  way  whereby  you  can 
attain  what  you  desire. 

Don't  fold  your  hands  and  expect  to  see  things 
drop  into  your  lap,  but  set  into  operation  the  higher 
forces  and  then  take  hold  of  the  first  thing  that 
offers  itself.  Do  what  your  hands  find  to  do,  and 
do  it  well.  If  this  work  is  not  thoroughly  satisfac- 
tory to  you,  then  affirm,  believe,  and  expect  that  it 
is  the  agency  that  will  lead  you  to  something  bet- 
ter. "  The  basis  for  attracting  the  best  of  all  the 
world  can  give  to  you  is  to  first  surround,  own,  and 
live  in  these  things  in  mind,  or  what  is  falsely  called 
imagination.  All  so-called  imaginings  are  realities 
and  forces  of  unseen  element.  Live  in  mind  in  a 
palace  and  gradually  palatial  surroundings  will 
gravitate  to  you.  But  so  living  is  not  pining,  or 
longing,  or  complainingly  wishing.  It  is  when  you 
are  '  down  in  the  world,'  calmly  and  persistently 
seeing  yourself  as  up.  It  is  when  you  are  now  com- 
pelled to  eat  from  a  tin  plate,  regarding  that  tin 
plate  as  only  the  certain  step  to  one  of  silver.    It  is 


The  Law  of  Prosperity  25 

not  envying  and  growling  at  other  people  who  have 
silver  plate.  That  growling  is  just  so  much  capital 
stock  taken  from  the  bank  account  of  mental  force." 

A  friend  who  knows  the  power  of  the  interior 
forces,  and  whose  life  is  guided  in  every  detail  by 
them,  has  given  a  suggestion  in  this  form:  When 
you  are  in  the  arms  of  the  bear,  even  though  he 
is  hugging  you,  look  him  in  the  face  and  laugh,  but 
all  the  time  keep  your  eye  on  the  bull.  If  you  allow 
all  of  your  attention  to  be  given  to  the  work  of  the 
bear,  the  bull  may  get  entirely  out  of  your  sight. 
In  other  words,  if  you  yield  to  adversity  the  chances 
are  that  it  will  master  you,  but  if  you  recognize 
in  yourself  the  power  of  mastery  over  conditions 
then  adversity  will  yield  to  you,  and  will  be  changed 
into  prosperity.  If  when  it  comes  you  calmly  and 
quietly  recognize  it,  and  use  the  time  that  might 
otherwise  be  spent  in  regrets,  and  fears,  and  fore- 
bodings, in  setting  into  operation  the  powerful 
forces  within  you,  it  will  soon  take  its  leave. 

Faith,  absolute  dogmatic  faith,  is  the  only  law  of 
true  success.  When  we  recognize  the  fact  that  a 
man  carries  his  success  or  his  failure  with  him,  and 
that  it  does  not  depend  upon  outside  conditions,  we 
will  come  into  the  possession  of  powers  that  will 
quickly  change  outside  conditions  into  agencies 
that  make  for  success.  When  we  come  into  this 
higher  realization  and  bring  our  lives  into  com- 
plete harmony  with  the  higher  laws,  we  will  then 
be  able  so  to  focus  and  direct  the  awakened  interior 


26  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

forces,  that  they  will  go  out  and  return  laden  with 
that  for  which  they  are  sent.  We  will  then  be 
great  enough  to  attract  success,  and  it  will  not  al- 
ways be  apparently  just  a  little  ways  ahead.  We 
can  then  establish  in  ourselves  a  centre  so  strong 
that  instead  of  running  hither  and  thither  for  this 
or  that,  we  can  stay  at  home  and  draw  to  us  the 
conditions  we  desire.  If  we  firmly  establish  and 
hold  to  this  centre,  things  will  seem  continually  to 

come  our  way. 

•  •  •  •  • 

In  Time  with  the  Infinite, 


VIII. 

THE    LAW   OF   HABIT-FORMING. 

Have  we  it  within  our  power  to  determine  at 
all  times  what  types  of  habits  shall  take  form  in 
our  lives?  In  other  words,  is  habit-forming,  char- 
acter-building, a  matter  of  mere  chance,  or  have 
we  it  within  our  own  control?  We  have,  entirely 
and  absolutely. 

For  there  is  a  simple,  natural,  and  thoroughly 
scientific  method  that  all  should  know.  A  method 
whereby  old,  undesirable,  earth-binding  habits  can 
be  broken,  and  new,  desirable,  heaven-lifting  hab- 
its can  be  acquired, — a  method  whereby  life  in  part 
or  in  its  totality  can  be  changed,  provided  one  is 
sufficiently  in  earnest  to  know,  and,  knowing  it,  to 
apply  the  law. 

Thought  is  the  force  underlying  all.  And  what 
do  we  mean  by  this?  Simply  this:  Your  every 
act — every  conscious  act — is  preceded  by  a  thought. 
Your  dominating  thoughts  determine  your  domi- 
nating actions.  The  acts  repeated  crystallize  them- 
selves into  the  habit.  The  aggregate  of  your  hab- 
its is  your  character.  Whatever,  then,  you  would 
have  your  acts,  you  must  look  well  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  thought  you  entertain.     Whatever  act 


28  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

you  would  not  do, — habit  you  would  not  acquire, — 
you  must  look  well  to  it  that  you  do  not  entertain 
the  type  of  thought  that  will  give  birth  to  this  act, 
this  habit. 

It  is  a  simple  psychological  law  that  any  type 
of  thought,  if  entertained  for  a  sufficient  length  of 
time,  will,  by  and  by,  reach  the  motor  tracks  of  the 
brain,  and  finally  burst  forth  into  action.  Murder 
can  be  and  many  times  is  committed  in  this  way, 
the  same  as  all  undesirable  things  are  done.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  greatest  powers  are  grown,  the 
most  God-like  characteristics  are  engendered,  the 
most  heroic  acts  are  performed  in  the  same  way. 

The  thing  clearly  to  understand  is  this :  That  the 
thought  is  always  parent  to  the  act.  Now,  we 
have  it  entirely  in  our  own  hands  to  determine  ex- 
actly what  thoughts  we  entertain.  In  the  realm  of 
our  own  minds  we  have  absolute  control,  or  we 
should  have,  and  if  at  any  time  we  have  not,  then 
there  is  a  method  by  which  we  can  gain  control, 
and  in   the  realm  of  the  mind  become  thorough 

masters. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Here  let  us  refer  to  that  law  of  the  mind  which 
is  the  same  as  is  the  law  in  connection  with  the  re- 
flex nerve  system  of  the  body,  the  law  which  says 
that  whenever  one  does  a  certain  thing  in  a  certain 
way  it  is  easier  to  do  the  same  thing  in  the  same 
way  the  next  time,  and  still  easier  the  next,  and  the 
next,  and  the  next,  until  in  time  it  comes  to  pass 


The  Law  of  Habit-Forming  29 

that  no  effort  is  required,  or  no  effort  worth  speak- 
ing of;  but  on  the  contrary,  to  do  the  opposite 
would  require  the  effort.  The  mind  carries  with  it 
the  power  that  perpetuates  its  own  type  of  thought, 
the  same  as  the  body  carries  with  it  through  the 
reflex  nerve  system  the  power  which  perpetuates 
and  makes  continually  easier  its  own  particular 
acts.  Thus  a  simple  effort  to  control  one's  thoughts, 
a  simple  setting  about  it,  even  if  at  first  failure  is 
the  result,  and  even  if  for  a  time  failure  seems  to  be 
about  the  only  result,  will  in  time,  sooner  or  later, 
bring  him  to  the  point  of  easy,  full,  and  complete 
control. 

Each  one,  then,  can  grow  the  power  of  deter- 
mining, controlling  his  thought,  the  power  of  de- 
termining what  types  of  thought  he  shall  and  what 
types  he  shall  not  entertain.  For  let  us  never  part 
in  mind  with  this  fact,  that  every  earnest  effort 
along  any  line  makes  the  end  aimed  at  just  a  little 
easier  for  each  succeeding  effort,  even  if,  as  has 
been  said,  apparent  failure  is  the  result  of  the  earlier 
efforts.  This  is  a  case  where  even  failure  is  suc- 
cess, for  the  failure  is  not  in  the  effort,  and  every 
earnest  effort  adds  an  increment  of  power  that  will 
eventually  accomplish  the  end  aimed  at. 

Character-Building  Thought  Power. 


IX. 

ACTUALIZING   ONE'S    IDEALS. 

There  is  nothing  more  true  in  connection  with 
human  life  than  that  we  grow  into  the  likeness  of 
those  things  we  contemplate.  Literally  and  scien- 
tifically and  necessarily  true  is  it  that,  "as  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  The  "  is  "  part  is 
his  character.  His  character  is  the  sum  total  of 
his  habits.  His  habits  have  been  formed  by  his  con- 
scious acts;  but  every  conscious  act  is,  as  we  have 
found,  preceded  by  a  thought.  And  so  we  have  it 
— thought  on  the  one  hand,  character,  life,  destiny 
on  the  other.  And  simple  it  becomes  when  we  bear 
in  mind  that  it  is  simply  the  thought  of  the  present 
moment,  and  the  next  moment  when  it  is  upon  us, 
and  then  the  next,  and  so  on  through  all  time. 

One  can  in  this  way  attain  to  whatever  ideals  he 
would  attain  to.  Two  steps  are  necessary:  first,  as 
the  days  pass,  to  form  one's  ideals ;  and  second,  to 
follow  them  continually  whatever  may  arise,  wher- 
ever they  may  lead  him.  Always  remember  that 
the  great  and  strong  character  is  the  one  who  is 
ever  ready  to  sacrifice  the  present  pleasure  for  the 
future  good.  He  who  will  thus  follow  his  highest 
ideals  as  they  present  themselves  to  him  day  after 
day,  year  after  year,  will  find  that  as  Dante,  follow- 


Actualizing  One's  Ideals  31 

ing  his  beloved  from  world  to  world,  finally  found 
her  at  the  gates  of  Paradise,  so  he  will  find  himself 
eventually  at  the  same  gates.  Life  is  not,  we  may 
say,  for  mere  passing  pleasure,  but  for  the  highest 
unfoldment  that  one  can  attain  to,  the  noblest  char- 
acter that  one  can  grow,  and  for  the  greatest  service 
that  one  can  render  to  all  mankind.  In  this,  how- 
ever, we  will  find  the  highest  pleasure,  for  in  this 
the  only  real  pleasure  lies. 

The  question  is  not,  What  are  the  conditions  in 
our  lives  ?  but,  How  do  we  meet  the  conditions  that 
we  find  there?  And  whatever  the  conditions  are, 
it  is  unwise  and  profitless  to  look  upon  them,  even 
if  they  are  conditions  that  we  would  have  other- 
wise, in  the  attitude  of  complaint,  for  complaint  will 
bring  depression,  and  depression  will  weaken  and 
possibly  even  kill  the  spirit  that  would  engender  the 
power  that  would  enable  us  to  bring  into  our  lives 
an  entirely  new  set  of  conditions. 

Each  one  is  so  apt  to  think  that  his  own  con- 
ditions, his  own  trials  or  troubles  or  sorrows,  or  his 
own  struggles,  as  the  case  may  be,  are  greater  than 
those  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  or  possibly 
greater  than  those  of  any  one  else  in  the  world. 
He  forgets  that  each  one  has  his  own  peculiar  trials 
or  troubles  or  sorrows  to  bear,  or  struggles  in  hab- 
its to  overcome,  and  that  his  is  but  the  common  lot 
of  all  the  human  race.     We  are  apt  to  make  the 


32  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

mistake  in  this — in  that  we  see  and  feel  keenly  our 
own  trials,  or  adverse  conditions,  or  characteristics 
to  be  overcome,  while  those  of  others  we  do  not  see 
so  clearly,  and  hence  we  are  apt  to  think  that  they 
are  not  at  all  equal  to  our  own.  Each  has  his  own 
problems  to  work  out.  Each  must  work  out  his 
own  problems.  Each  must  grow  the  insight  that 
will  enable  him  to  see  what  the  causes  are  that  have 
brought  the  unfavorable  conditions  into  his  life; 
each  must  grow  the  strength  that  will  enable  him 
to  face  these  conditions,  and  to  set  into  operation 
forces  that  will  bring  about  a  different  set  of  condi- 
tions. We  may  be  of  aid  to  one  another  by  way  of 
suggestion,  by  way  of  bringing  to  one  another  a 
knowledge  of  certain  higher  laws  and  forces, — laws 
and  forces  that  will  make  it  easier  to  do  that  which 
we  would  do.  The  doing,  however,  must  be  done 
by  each  one  for  himself. 

Character-Building  Thought  Power. 


FAITH    AND    PRAYER— THEIR    NATURE. 

What,  shall  we  ask,  is  the  place,  what  the  value, 
of  prayer  ?  Prayer,  as  every  act  of  devotion,  brings 
us  into  an  ever  greater  conscious  harmony  with  the 
Infinite,  the  one  pearl  of  great  price ;  for  it  is  this 
harmony  which  brings  all  other  things.  Prayer  is 
the  soul's  sincere  desire,  and  thus  is  its  own  answer, 
as  the  sincere  desire  made  active  and  accompanied 
by  faith  sooner  or  later  gives  place  to  realization; 
for  faith  is  an  invisible  and  invincible  magnet,  and 
attracts  to  itself  whatever  it  fervently  desires  and 
calmly  and  persistently  expects.  This  is  absolute, 
and  the  results  will  be  absolute  in  exact  proportion 
as  this  operation  of  the  thought  forces,  as  this  faith 
is  absolute,  and  relative  in  exact  proportion  as  it  is 
relative.  The  Master  said,  What  things  soever  ye 
desire,  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  receive  them 
and  ye  shall  have  them.  Can  any  law  be  more 
clearly  enunciated,  can  anything  be  more  definite 
and  more  absolute  than  this?  According  to  thy 
faith  be  it  unto  thee.  Do  we  at  times  fail  in  obtain- 
ing the  results  we  desire?  The  fault,  the  failure, 
lies  not  in  the  law  but  in  ourselves.  Regarded  in  its 
right  and  true  light,  than  prayer  there  is  nothing 


34  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours  > 

more  scientific,  nothing  more  valuable,  nothing  more 
effective. 

This  conscious  realization  of  oneness  with  the 
Infinite  Life  is  of  all  things  the  one  thing  to  be  de- 
sired ;  for,  when  this  oneness  is  realized  and  lived  in, 
all  other  things  follow  in  its  train,  there  are  no  de- 
sires that  shall  not  be  realized,  for  God  has  planted 
in  the  human  breast  no  desire  without  its  correspond- 
ing means  of  realization.  No  harm  can  come  nigh, 
nothing  can  touch  us,  there  will  be  nothing  to  fear ; 
for  we  shall  thus  attract  only  the  good.  And  what- 
ever changes  time  may  bring,  understanding  the  law, 
we  shall  always  expect  something  better,  and  thus, 
set  into  operation  the  forces  that  will  attract  that 
something,  realizing  that  many  times  angels  go  out 
that  archangels  may  enter  in;  and  this  is  always 
true  in  the  case  of  the  life  of  this  higher  realization. 
And  why  should  we  have  any  fear  whatever, — fear 
even  for  the  nation,  as  is  many  times  expressed? 
God  is  behind  His  world,  in  love  and  with  infinite 
care  and  watchfulness  working  out  His  great  and 
almighty  plans ;  and  whatever  plans  men  may  devise, 
He  will  when  the  time  is  ripe  either  frustrate  and 
shatter,  or  aid  and  push  through  to  their  most  per- 
fect culmination, — frustrate  and  shatter  if  contrary 
to,  aid  and  actualize  if  in  harmony  with  His. 

These  facts,  the  facts  relating  to  the  powers  that 
come  with  the  higher  awakening,  have  been  dealt 
with  somewhat  fully,  to  show  that  the  matters  along 


Faith  and  Prayer — Their  Nature  35 

the  lines  of  man's  interior,  intuitive,  spiritual, 
thought,  soul  life,  instead  of  being,  as  they  are  so 
many  times  regarded,  merely  indefinite,  sentimental, 
or  impractical,  are,  on  the  contrary,  powerfully, 
omnipotently  real,  and  are  of  all  practical  things  in 
the  world  the  most  practical,  and,  in  the  truest  and 
deepest  sense,  the  only  truly  practical  things  there 
are.  And  pre-eminently  is  this  true  when  we  look 
with  a  long  range  of  vision,  past  the  mere  to-day, 
to  the  final  outcome,  to  the  time  when  that  transi- 
tion we  are  accustomed  to  call  death  takes  place, 
and  all  accumulations  and  possessions  material  are 
left  behind,  and  the  soul  takes  with  it  only  the  un- 
foldment  and  growth  of  the  real  life ;  and  unless  it 
has  this,  when  all  else  must  be  left  behind,  it  goes 
out  poor  indeed.  And  a  most  wonderful  and  beau- 
tiful fact  of  it  all  is  this:  that  all  growth,  all  ad- 
vancement, all  attainment  made  along  the  lines  of 
the  spiritual,  the  soul,  the  real  life,  is  so  much  made 
forever,  and  can  never  be  lost. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XI. 


THE  PETTY  PERSONAL  AND  THE 
LARGER  UNIVERSAL. 

When  the  step  from  the  personal  to  the  imper- 
sonal, from  the  personal,  the  individual,  to  the  uni- 
versal, is  once  made,  the  great  solution  of  life  has 
come ;  and  by  this  same  step  one  enters  at  once  into 
the  realm  of  all  power.  When  this  is  done,  and  one 
fully  realizes  the  fact  that  the  greatest  life  is  the  life 
spent  in  the  service  of  all  mankind,  and  then  when 
he  vitally  grasps  that  great  eternal  principle  of  right, 
of  truth,  of  justice,  that  runs  through  all  the  uni- 
verse, and  which,  though  temporarily  it  may  seem 
to  be  perverted,  always  and  with  never  an  excep- 
tion eventually  prevails,  and  that  with  an  omnip- 
otent power, — he  then  holds  the  key  to  all  situations. 

A  king  of  this  nature  goes  about  his.  work  ab- 
solutely regardless  of  what  men  may  say  or  hear  or 
think  or  do;  for  he  himself  has  absolutely  nothing 
to  gain  or  nothing  to  lose,  and  nothing  of  this  na- 
ture can  come  near  him  or  touch  him,  for  he  is 
standing  not  in  the  personal,  but  in  the  universal. 
He  is  then  in  God's  work,  and  the  very  God-powers 
are  his,  and  it  seems  as  if  the  very  angels  of  heaven 
come  to  minister  unto  him  and  to  move  things  his 
way;  and  this  is  true,  very  true,  for  he  himself  is 


The  Petty  Personal  and  the  Larger  Universal  37 

simply  moving  God's  way,  and  when  this  is  so,  the 
certainty  of  the  outcome  is  absolute. 

How  often  did  the  Master  say,  "  I  seek  not  to  do 
mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  the  Father  who  sent 
me  " !  Here  is  the  world's  great  example  of  the 
life  out  of  the  personal  and  in  the  universal,  hence 
his  great  power.  The  same  has  been  true  of  all  the 
saviors,  the  prophets,  the  seers,  the  sages,  and  the 
leaders  in  the  world's  history,  of  all  of  truly  great 
and  lasting  power. 

He  who  would  then  come  into  the  secret  of  power 
must  come  from  the  personal  into  the  universal,  and 
with  this  comes  not  only  great  power,  but  also  free- 
dom from  the  vexations  and  perplexities  that  rise 
from  the  misconstruing  of  motives,  the  opinions  of 
others ;  for  such  a  one  cares  nothing  as  to  what  men 
may  say,  or  hear,  or  think,  or  do,  so  long  as  he  is 
true  to  the  great  principles  of  right  and  truth  before 
him.  And,  if  we  will  search  carefully,  we  shall 
find  that  practically  all  the  perplexities  and  difficul- 
ties of  life  have  their  origin  on  the  side  of  the  per- 
sonal. 

Much  is  said  to  young  men  to-day  about  success 
in  life, — success  generally  though,  as  the  world 
calls  success.  It  is  well,  however,  always  to  bear 
in  mind  the  fact  that  there  is  a  success  which  is  a 
miserable,  a  deplorable  failure;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  a  failure  which  is  a  grand,  a  noble, 
a  God-like  success.  And  one  crying  need  of  the 
age  is  that  young  men  be  taught  the  true  dignity, 


38  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

nobility,  and  power  of  such  a  failure, — such  a  fail- 
ure in  the  eyes  of  the  world  to-day,  but  such  a  suc- 
cess in  the  eyes  of  God  and  the  coming  ages.  When 
this  is  done,  there  will  be  among  us  more  prophets, 
more  saviors,  more  men  of  grand  and  noble  stature, 
who  with  a  firm  and  steady  hand  will  hold  the 
lighted  torch  of  true  advancement  high  up  among 
the  people ;  and  they  will  be  those  whom  the  people 
will  gladly  follow,  for  they  will  be  those  who  will 
speak  and  move  with  authority,  true  sons  of  God, 
true  brothers  of  men.  A  man  may  make  his 
millions  and  his  life  be  a  failure  still. 

What  All  the  World's  AS e eking. 


XII. 

THE    POEM    HANGS    ON    THE    BERRY- 
BUSH. 

To  live  undisturbed  by  passing  occurrences  you 
must  first  find  your  own  centre.  You  must  then  be 
firm  in  your  own  centre,  and  so  rule  the  world 
from  within.  He  who  does  not  himself  condition 
circumstances  allows  the  process  to  be  reversed, 
and  becomes  a  conditioned  circumstance.  Find 
your  centre  and  live  in  it.  Surrender  it  to  no  per- 
son, to  no  thing.  In  the  degree  that  you  do  this 
will  you  find  yourself  growing  stronger  and  stronger 
in  it.  And  how  can  one  find  his  centre?  By 
realizing  his  oneness  with  the  Infinite  Power,  and 
by  living  continually  in  this  realization. 

But  if  you  do  not  rule  from  your  own  centre, 
if  you  invest  this  or  that  with  the  power  of  bring- 
ing you  annoyance,  or  evil,  or  harm,  then  take  what 
it  brings,  but  cease  your  railings  against  the  eternal 
goodness  and  beneficence  of  all  things. 

"I  swear  the  earth  shall  surely  be  complete 
To  him  or  her  who  shall  be  complete; 
The  earth  remains  jagged  and  broken 
Only  to  him  who  remains  jagged  and  broken." 

If  the  windows  of  your  soul  are  dirty  and 
streaked,   covered    with    matter    foreign   to   them, 


4<D  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

then  the  world  as  you  look  out  of  them  will  be  to 
you  dirty  and  streaked  and  out  of  order.  Cease 
your  complainings,  however;  keep  your  pessimism, 
your  "  poor,  unfortunate  me  "  to  yourself,  lest  you 
betray  the  fact  that  your  windows  are  badly  in  need 
of  something.  But  know  that  your  friend,  who 
keeps  his  windows  clean,  that  the  Eternal  Sun  may 
illumine  all  within  and  make  visible  all  without, — 
know  that  he  lives  in  a  different  world  from  yours. 
Then,  go  wash  your  windows,  and  instead  of 
longing  for  some  other  world,  you  will  discover  the 
wonderful  beauties  of  this  world ;  and  if  you  don't 
find  transcendent  beauties  on  every  hand  here,  the 
chances  are  that  you  will  never  find  them  any- 
where. 

"The  poem  hangs  on  the  berry-bush 
When  comes  the  poet's  eye, 
And  the  whole  street  is  a  masquerade 
When  Shakspeare  passes  by." 

This  same  Shakspeare,  whose  mere  passing 
causes  all  this  commotion,  is  the  one  who  put  into 
the  mouth  of  one  of  his  creations  the  words :  "  The 
fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars,  but  in  our- 
selves, that  we  are  underlings."  And  the  great 
work  of  his  own  life  is  right  good  evidence  that 
he  realized  full  well  the  truth  of  the  facts  we  are 
considering.  And  again  he  gave  us  a  great  truth 
in  keeping  with  what  we  are  considering  when  he 
said: 


The  Poem  Hangs  on  the  Berry-Bush       41 

"Our  doubts  are  traitors, 
And  make  us  lose  the  good  we  oft  might  win 
By  Rearing  to  attempt." 

There  is  probably  no  agent  that  brings  us  more 
undesirable  conditions  than  fear.  We  should  live 
in  fear  of  nothing,  nor  will  we  when  we  come  fully 
to  know  ourselves.     An  old  French  proverb  runs: 

"Some  of  your  griefs  you  have  cured, 

And  the  sharpest  you  still  have  survived; 
But  what  torments  of  pain  you  endured 
From  evils  that  never  arrived." 

Fear  and  lack  of  faith  go  hand  in  hand.  The 
one  is  born  of  the  other.  Tell  me  how  much  one  is 
given  to  fear,  and  I  will  tell  you  how  much  he  lacks 
in  faith.  Fear  is  a  most  expensive  guest  to  enter- 
tain, the  same  as  worry  is:  so  expensive  are  they 
that  no  one  can  afford  to  entertain  them.  We  in- 
vite what  we  fear,  the  same  as,  by_a_different  atti- 
tude of  mind,  we  invite  and  attract  the  influences 
and  conditions  we  desire.  The  mind  dominated  by 
fear  opens  the  door  for  the  entrance  of  the  very 
things,  for  the  actualization  of  the  very  conditions 
it  fears. 

"Where  are  you  going ?"  asked  an  Eastern  pil- 
grim on  meeting  the  plague  one  day.  "  I  am  going 
to  Bagdad  to  kill  five  thousand  people,"  was  the 
reply.  A  few  days  later  the  same  pilgrim  met  the 
plague  returning.  "  You  told  me  you  were  going 
to  Bagdad  to  kill  five  thousand  people/ '  said  he, 


42  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

"but  instead,  you  killed  fifty  thousand."  "No," 
said  the  plague,  "  /  killed  only  five  thousand,  as 
I  told  you  I  would;  the  others  died  of  fright" 

Fear  can  paralyze  every  muscle  in  the  body. 
Fear  affects  the  flow  of  the  blood,  likewise  the 
normal  and  healthy  action  of  all  the  life  forces. 
Fear  can  make  the  body  rigid,  motionless,  and 
powerless  to  move. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XIII. 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF   OUR   PREVAILING 
MENTAL    STATES    UPON    OTHERS. 

Not  only  do  we  attract  to  ourselves  the  things 
we  fear,  but  we  also  aid  in  attracting  to  others  the 
conditions  we  in  our  own  minds  hold  them  in  fear 
of.  This  we  do  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of 
our  own  thought,  and  in  the  degree  that  they  are 
sensitively  organized  and  so  influenced  by  our 
thought,  and  this,  although  it  be  unconscious  both 
on  their  part  and  on  ours. 

Children,  and  especially  when  very  young,  are, 
generally  speaking,  more  sensitive  to  their  sur- 
rounding influences  than  grown  people  are.  Some 
are  veritable  little  sensitive  plates,  registering  the 
influences  about  them,  and  embodying  them  as  they 
grow.  How  careful  in  their  prevailing  mental 
states  then  should  be  those  who  have  them  in  charge, 
and  especially  how  careful  should  a  mother  be 
during  the  time  she  is  carrying  the  child,  and  when 
every  thought,  every  mental  as  well  as  emotional 
state  has  its  direct  influence  upon  the  life  of  the 
unborn  child.  Let  parents  be  careful  how  they  hold 
a  child,  either  younger  or  older,  in  the  thought  of 
fear.  This  is  many  times  done,  unwittingly  on 
their  part,  through  anxiety,  and  at  times  through 


44  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

what  might  well  be  termed  over-care,  which  is  fully 
as  bad  as  under-care. 

I  know  of  a  number  of  cases  where  a  child  has 
been  so  continually  held  in  the  thought  of  fear  lest 
this  or  that  condition  come  upon  him,  that  the  very 
things  that  were  feared  have  been  drawn  to  him, 
which  probably  otherwise  never  would  have  come 
at  all.  Many  times  there  has  been  no  adequate 
basis  for  the  fear.  In  case  there  is  a  basis,  then 
far  wiser  is  it  to  take  exactly  the  opposite  attitude, 
so  as  to  neutralize  the  force  at  work,  and  then  to 
hold  the  child  in  the  thought  of  wisdom  and 
strength  that  it  may  be  able  to  meet  the  condition 
and  master  it,  instead  of  being  mastered  by  it. 

But  a  day  or  two  ago  a  friend  was  telling  me 
of  an  experience  of  his  own  life  in  this  connection. 
At  a  period  when  he  was  having  a  terrific  struggle 
with  a  certain  habit,  he  was  so  continually  held  in 
the  thought  of  fear  by  his  mother  and  the  young 
lady  to  whom  he  was  engaged, — the  engagement 
to  be  consummated  at  the  end  of  a  certain  period, 
the  time  depending  on  his  proving  his  mastery, — 
that  he,  very  sensitively  organized,  continually  felt 
the  depressing  and  weakening  effects  of  their  nega- 
tive thoughts.  He  could  always  tell  exactly  how 
they  felt  toward  him ;  he  was  continually  influenced 
and  weakened  by  their  fear,  by  their  questionings, 
by  their  suspicions,  all  of  which  had  the  effect  of 
lessening  the  sense  of  his  own  power,  all  of  which 
had   an   endeavor-paralyzing  influence   upon   him. 


Prevailing  Mental  States  upon  Others      45 

And  so  instead  of  their  begetting  courage  and 
strength  in  him,  they  brought  him  to  a  still  greater 
realization  of  his  own  weakness  and  the  almost 
worthless  use  of  struggle. 

Here  were  two  who  loved  him  dearly,  and  who 
would  have  done  anything  and  everything  to  help 
him  gain  the  mastery,  but  who,  ignorant  of  the 
silent,  subtle,  ever-working  and  all-telling  power 
of  the  thought  forces,  instead  of  imparting  to  him 
courage,  instead  of  adding  to  his  strength,  dis- 
armed him  of  this,  and  then  added  an  additional 
weakness  from  without.  In  this  way  the  battle  for 
him  was  made  harder  in  a  three-fold  degree. 

Fear  and  worry  and  all  kindred  mental  states 
are  too  expensive  for  any  person,  man,  woman,  or 
child,  to  entertain  or  indulge  in.  Fear  paralyzes 
healthy  action,  worry  corrodes  and  pulls  down  the 
organism,  and  will  finally  tear  it  to  pieces.  Noth- 
ing is  to  be  gained  by  it,  but  everything  to  be  lost. 
Long-continued  grief  at  any  loss  will  do  the  same. 
Each  brings  its  own  peculiar  type  of  ailment.  An 
inordinate  love  of  gain,  a  close-fisted,  hoarding 
disposition  will  have  kindred  effects.  Anger,  jeal- 
ousy, malice,  continual  fault-finding,  lust,  has  each 
its  own  peculiar  corroding,  weakening,  tearing- 
down  effects. 

We  shall  find  that  not  only  are  happiness  and 
prosperity  concomitants  of  righteousness, — living 
in  harmony  with  the  higher  laws,  but  bodily  health 
as  well.    The  great  Hebrew  seer  enunciated  a  won- 


46  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

derful  chemistry  of  life  when  he  said, — "  As  right- 
eousness tendeth  to  life,  so  he  that  pursueth  evil, 
pursueth  it  to  his  own  death."  On  the  other  hand, 
"  In  the  way  of  righteousness  is  life ;  and  in  the 
pathway  thereof  there  is  no  death."  The  time  will 
come  when  it  will  be  seen  that  this  means  far  more 
than  most  people  dare  even  to  think  as  yet.  "It 
rests  with  man  to  say  whether  his  soul  shall  be 
housed  in  a  stately  mansion  of  ever-growing  splen- 
dor and  beauty,  or  in  a  hovel  of  his  own  building, 
— a  hovel  at  last  ruined  and  abandoned  to  decay." 
The  bodies  of  almost  untold  numbers,  living  their 
one-sided,  unbalanced  lives,  are  every  year,  through 
these  influences,  weakening  and  falling  by  the  way- 
side long  before  their  time.  Poor,  poor  houses! 
Intended  to  be  beautiful  temples,  brought  to  deso- 
lation by  their  ignorant,  reckless,  deluded  tenants. 
Poor  houses! 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XIV. 
SAVIORS    ONE   OF   ANOTHER. 

And  in  the  same  sense  we  are  all  the  saviors  one 
of  another,  or  may  become  so.  A  sudden  emer- 
gency arises,  and  I  stand  faltering  and  weak  with 
fear.  My  friend  beside  me  is  strong  and  fearless. 
He  sees  the  emergency.  He  summons  up  all  the 
latent  powers  within  him,  and  springs  forth  to  meet 
it.  This  sublime  example  arouses  me,  calls  my 
latent  powers  into  activity,  when  but  for  him  I 
might  not  have  known  them  there.  I  follow  his 
example.  I  now  know  my  powers,  and  know  them 
forever  after.  Thus,  in  this,  my  friend  has  become 
my  savior. 

I  am  weak  in  some  point  of  character, — vacil- 
lating, yielding,  stumbling,  falling,  continually  eat- 
ing the  bitter  fruit  of  it  all.  My  friend  is  strong, 
he  has  gained  thorough  self-mastery.  The  majesty 
and  beauty  of  power  are  upon  his  brow.  I  see  his 
example,  I  love  his  life,  I  am  influenced  by  his 
power.  My  soul  longs  and  cries  out  for  the  same. 
A  supreme  effort  of  will — that  imperial  master  that 
will  take  one  anywhere  when  rightly  directed — 
arises  within  me,  it  is  born  at  last,  and  it  calls  all 
the  soul's  latent  powers  into  activity;  and  instead 
of  stumbling  I  stand  firm,  instead  of  giving  over  in 


48  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

weakness  I  stand  firm  and  master,  I  enter  into  the 
joys  of  full  self-mastery,  and  through  this  into  the 
mastery  of  all  things  besides.  And  thus  my  friend 
has  again  become  my  savior. 

With  the  new  power  I  have  acquired  through 
the  example  and  influence  of  my  savior-friend,  I, 
in  turn,  stand  before  a  friend  who  is  struggling, 
who  is  stumbling  and  in  despair.  He  sees,  he  feels, 
the  power  of  my  strength.  He  longs  for,  his  soul 
cries  out  for  the  same.  His  interior  forces  are 
called  into  activity,  he  now  knows  his  powers ;  and 
instead  of  the  slave,  he  becomes  the  master,  and 
thus  I,  in  turn,  have  become  his  savior.  Oh,  the 
wonderful  sense  of  sublimity,  the  mighty  feelings 
of  responsibility,  the  deep  sense  of  power  and  peace 
the  recognition  of  this  fact  should  bring  to  each 
and  all. 

God  works  through  the  instrumentality  of  human 
agency.  Then  forever  away  with  that  old,  shrivel- 
ling, weakening,  dying,  and  devilish  idea  that  we 
are  poor  worms  of  the  dust!  We  may  or  we  may 
not  be:  it  all  depends  upon  the  self.  The  moment 
we  believe  we  are  we  become  such ;  and  as  long  as 
we  hold  to  the  belief  we  will  be  held  to  this  iden- 
tity, and  will  act  and  live  as  such.  The  moment, 
however,  we  recognize  our  divinity,  our  higher,  our 
God-selves,  and  the  fact  that  we  are  the  saviors  of 
our  fellow-men,  we  become  saviors,  and  stand  and 
move  in  the  midst  of  a  majesty  and  beauty  and 
power  that  of  itself  proclaims  us  as  such. 


Saviors  One  of  Another  49 

There  is  a  prevalent  idea  to  the  effect  that  over- 
coming in  this  sense  necessarily  implies  more  or  less 
of  a  giving  up, — that  it  means  something  possibly 
on  the  order  of  asceticism.  On  the  contrary,  the 
highest,  truest,  keenest  pleasures  the  human  soul 
can  know,  it  finds  only  after  the  higher  is  entered 
upon  and  has  commenced  its  work  of  mastery ;  and, 
instead  of  there  being  a  giving  up  of  any  kind,  there 
is  a  great  law  which  says  that  the  lower  always  and 
of  its  own  accord  falls  away  before  the  higher. 
What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XV. 

NOT  REPRESSION,  BUT  SELF-MASTERY. 

From  what  has  been  said  let  it  not  be  inferred 
that  the  body,  the  physical,  material  life  is  to  be  de- 
spised or  looked  down  upon.  This,  rather  let  it  be 
said,  is  one  of  the  crying  errors  of  the  times,  and 
prolific  of  a  vast  amount  of  error,  suffering,  and 
shame.  On  the  contrary,  it  should  be  thought  all 
the  more  highly  of:  it  should  be  loved  and  devel- 
oped to  its  highest  perfections,  beauties,  and  powers. 
God  gave  us  the  body  not  in  vain.  It  is  just  as 
holy  and  beautiful  as  the  spirit  itself.  It  is  merely 
the  outward  material  manifestation  of  the  individu* 
alized  spirit;  and  we  by  our  hourly  thoughts  and 
emotions  are  building  it,  are  determining  its  condi- 
tions, its  structure,  and  appearance. 

Every  part,  every  organ,  every  function  of  the 
body  is  just  as  clean,  just  as  beautiful,  just  as  sweet, 
and  just  as  holy  as  every  other  part;  and  it  is  only 
by  virtue  of  man's  perverted  ways  of  looking  at 
some  that  they  become  otherwise,  and  the  moment 
they  so  become,  abuses,  ill  uses,  suffering,  and  shame 
creep  in. 

Not  repression,  but  elevation.  Would  that  this 
could  be  repeated  a  thousand  times  over!     Not  re- 


Not  Repression,  but  Self-Mastery  51 

pression,  but  elevation.  Every  part,  every  organ, 
every  function  of  the  body  is  given  for  use,  but  not 
for  misuse  or  abuse;  and  the  moment  the  latter 
takes  place  in  connection  with  any  function  it  loses 
its  higher  powers  of  use,  and  there  goes  with  this 
the  higher  powers  of  true  enjoyment. 

No,  a  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  realities  of  life 
prohibits  asceticism,  repression,  the  same  as  it  pro- 
hibits license  and  perverted  use.  To  err  on  the  one 
side  is  just  as  contrary  to  the  ideal  life  as  to  err  on 
the  other.  All  things  are  for  a  purpose,  all  should 
be  used  and  enjoyed ;  but  all  should  be  rightly  used, 
that  they  may  be  fully  enjoyed. 

It  is  the  threefold  life  and  development  that  is 
wanted, — physical,  mental,  spiritual.  This  gives  the 
rounded  life,  and  he  or  she  who  fails  in  any  one 
comes  short  of  the  perfect  whole.  The  physical 
has  its  uses  just  the  same  and  is  just  as  important 
as  the  others.  The  great  secret  of  the  highly  suc- 
cessful life  is,  however,  to  infuse  the  mental  and 
the  physical  with  the  spiritual;  in  other  words,  to 
spiritualize  all,  and  so  raise  all  to  the  highest  possi- 
bilities and  powers. 

It  is  the  all-around,  fully  developed  we  want, — 
not  the  ethereal,  pale-blooded  man  and  woman,  but 
the  man  and  woman  of  flesh  and  blood,  for  action 
and  service  here  and  now, — the  man  and  woman 
strong  and  powerful,  with  all  the  faculties  and  func- 
tions fully  unfolded  and  used,  all  in  a  royal  and 


52  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

bounding  condition,  but  all  rightly  subordinated. 
The  man  and  the  woman  of  this  kind,  with  the 
imperial  hand  of  mastery  upon  all, — standing,  mov- 
ing thus  like  a  king,  nay,  like  a  very  God,— such 
is  the  man  and  such  is  the  woman  of  power.  Such 
is  the  ideal  life:  anything  else  is  one-sided,  and 
falls  short  of  it. 

.  a  •  •  « 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XVI. 
THOUGHTS   ARE   FORCES. 

Thought  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  progress  or  retro- 
gression, of  all  success  or  failure,  of  all  that  is  de- 
sirable or  undesirable  in  human  life.  The  type  of 
thought  we  entertain  both  creates  and  draws  con- 
ditions that  crystallize  about  it,  conditions  exactly 
the  same  in  nature  as  is  the  thought  that  gives  them 
form.  Thoughts  are  forces,  and  each  creates  of 
its  kind,  whether  we  realize  it  or  not.  The  great 
law  of  the  drawing  power  of  the  mind,  which  says 
that  like  creates  like,  and  that  like  attracts  like,  is 
continually  working  in  every  human  life,  for  it  is 
one  of  the  great  immutable  laws  of  the  universe. 
For  one  to  take  time  to  see  clearly  the  things  he 
would  attain  to,  and  then  to  hold  that  ideal  stead- 
ily and  continually  before  his  mind,  never  allowing 
faith— his  positive  thought- forces— to  give  way  to 
or  to  be  neutralized  by  doubts  and  fears,  and  then 
to  set  about  doing  each  day  what  his  hands  find  to 
do,  never  complaining,  but  spending  the  time  that 
he  would  otherwise  spend  in  complaint  in  focusing 
his  thought-forces  upon  the  ideal  that  his  mind 
has  built,  will  sooner  or  later  bring  about  the  full 
materialization  of  that  for  which  he  sets  out. 

There  are  those  who,  when  they  begin  to  grasp 


54  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

the  fact  that  there  is  what  we  may  term  a  "science 
of  thought,"  who,  when  they  begin  to  realize  that 
through  the  instrumentality  of  our  interior,  spir- 
itual thought-forces  we  have  the  power  of  gradu- 
ally moulding  the  every-day  conditions  of  life  as  we 
would  have  them,  in  their  early  enthusiasm  are  not 
able  to  see  results  as  quickly  as  they  expect,  and 
are  apt  to  think,  therefore,  that  after  all  there  is 
not  very  much  in  that  which  has  but  newly  come 
to  their  knowledge.  They  must  remember,  how- 
ever, that  in  endeavoring  to  overcome  an  old  or  to 
grow  a  new  habit,  everything  cannot  be  done  all 
at  once. 

In  the  degree  that  we  attempt  to  use  the  thought- 
forces  do  we  continually  become  able  to  use  them 
more  effectively.  Progress  is  slow  at  first,  more 
rapid  as  we  proceed.  Power  grows  by  using,  or, 
in  other  words,  using  brings  a  continually  increas- 
ing power.  This  is  governed  by  law  the  same  as 
are  all  things  in  our  lives,  and  all  things  in  the  uni- 
verse about  us.  Every  act  and  advancement  made 
by  the  musician  is  in  full  accordance  with  law.  No 
one  commencing  the  study  of  music  can,  for  ex- 
ample, sit  down  to  the  piano  and  play  the  piece  of 
a  master  at  the  first  effort.  He  must  not  conclude, 
however,  nor  does  he  conclude,  that  the  piece  of 
the  master  cannot  be  played  by  him,  or,  for  that 
matter,  by  any  one.  He  begins  to  practise  the  piece. 
The  law  of  the  mind  that  we  have  already  noticed 
comes  to  his  aid,  whereby  his  mind  follows  the 
music  more  readily,  more  rapidly,  and  more  surely, 


Thoughts   are   Forces  55 

each  succeeding  time,  and  there  also  comes  into 
operation  and  to  his  aid  the  law  underlying  the  ac- 
tion of  the  reflex  nerve  system  of  the  body,  which 
we  have  also  noticed,  whereby  his  fingers  coordi- 
nate their  movements  with  the  movements  of  his 
mind,  more  readily,  more  rapidly,  and  more  accu- 
rately each  succeeding  time;  until  by  and  by  the 
time  comes  when  that  which  he  stumbles  through 
at  first,  that  in  which  there  is  no  harmony,  nothing 
but  discord,  finally  reveals  itself  as  the  music  of  the 
master,  the  music  that  thrills  and  moves  masses  of 
men  and  women.  So  it  is  in  the  use  of  the  thought- 
forces.  It  is  the  reiteration,  the  constant  reiteration 
of  the  thought  that  grows  the  power  of  continually 
stronger  thought-focusing,  and  that  finally  brings 
manifestation. 

Character-Building  Thought  Poiver. 


XVII. 
ALL    LIFE    FROM    WITHIN. 

All  life  is  from  within  out.  This  is  something 
that  cannot  be  reiterated  too  often.  The  springs  of 
life  are  all  from  within.  This  being  true,  it  would 
be  well  for  us  to  give  more  time  to  the  inner  life 
than  we  are  accustomed  to  give  to  it,  especially  in 
this  Western  World. 

There  is  nothing  that  will  bring  us  such  abun- 
dant returns  as  to  take  a  little  time  in  the  quiet  each 
day  of  our  lives.  We  need  this  to  get  the  kinks  out 
of  our  minds  and  hence  out  of  our  lives.  We  need 
this  to  form  better  the  higher  ideals  of  life.  We 
need  this  in  order  to  see  clearly  in  mind  the  things 
upon  which  we  would  concentrate  and  focus  the 
thought-forces.  We  need  this  in  order  to  make 
continually  anew  and  to  keep  our  conscious  connec- 
tion with  the  Infinite.  We  need  this  in  order  that 
the  rush  and  hurry  of  our  every-day  life  does  not 
keep  us  away  from  the  conscious  realization  of  the 
fact  that  the  spirit  of  Infinite  life  and  power  that 
is  back  of  all,  working  in  and  through  all,  the  life 
of  all,  is  the  life  of  our  life,  and  the  source  of  our 
power ;  and  that  outside  of  this  we  have  no  life  and 
we  have  no  power.  To  realize  this  fact  fully,  and 
to  live  in  it  consciously  at  all  times,  is  to  find  the 


All  Life  from    Within  $7 

kingdom  of  God,  which  is  essentially  an  inner 
kingdom,  and  can  never  be  anything  else.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  to  be  found  only  within,  and 
this  is  done  once  for  all,  and  in  a  manner  in  which 
it  cannot  otherwise  be  done,  when  we  come  into  the 
conscious,  living  realization  of  the  fact  that  in  our 
real  selves  we  are  essentially  one  with  the  Divine 
life,  and  open  ourselves  continually  so  that  this 
Divine  life  can  speak  to  and  manifest  through  us. 
In  this  way  we  come  into  the  condition  where  we 
are  continually  walking  with  God.  In  this  way  the 
consciousness  of  God  becomes  a  living  reality  in 
our  lives ;  and  in  the  degree  in  which  it  becomes 
a  reality  does  it  bring  us  into  the  realization  of  con- 
tinually increasing  wisdom,  insight,  and  power. 
This  consciousness  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  is  the 
essence,  indeed  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  religion. 
This  identifies  religion  with  every  act  and  every 
moment  of  every-day  life.  That  which  does  not 
identify  itself  with  every  moment  of  every' day  and 
with  every  act  of  life  is  religion  in  name  only  and 
not  in  reality. 

It  is  the  attitude  of  the  child  that  is  necessary 
before  we  can  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
As  it  was  said,  "  Except  ye  become  as  little  chil- 
dren, ye  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
For  we  then  realize  that  of  ourselves  we  can  do 
nothing,  but  that  it  is  only  as  we  realize  that  it  is 
the  Divine  life  and  power  working  within  us,  and 


58  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

it  is  only  as  we  open  ourselves  that  it  may  work 
through  us,  that  we  are  or  can  do  anything.  It  is 
thus  that  the  simple  life,  which  is  essentially  the  life 
of  the  greatest  enjoyment  and  the  greatest  attain- 
ment, is  entered  upon. 

In  the  Orient  the  people  as  a  class  take  far  more 
time  in  the  quiet,  in  the  silence,  than  we  take. 
Some  of  them  carry  this  possibly  to  as  great  an 
extreme  as  we  carry  the  opposite,  with  the  result 
that  they  do  not  actualize  and  objectify  in  the  outer 
life  the  things  they  dream  in  the  inner  life.  We 
give  so  much  time  to  the  activities  of  the  outer  life 
that  we  do  not  take  sufficient  time  in  the  quiet  to 
form  in  the  inner,  spiritual  thought-life  the  ideals 
and  the  conditions  that  we  would  have  actualized 
and  manifested  in  the  outer  life.  The  result  is  that 
we  take  life  in  a  kind  of  haphazard  way,  taking  it 
as  it  comes,  thinking  not  very  much  about  it  until, 
perhaps,  pushed  by  some  bitter  experiences,  instead 
of  moulding  it,  through  the  agency  of  the  inner 
forces,  exactly  as  we  would  have  it.  We  need  to 
strike  the  happy  balance  between  the  custom  in  this 
respect  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  worlds,  and 
go  to  the  extreme  of  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

If  the  Oriental  would  do  his  contemplating,  and 
then  get  up  and  do  his  work,  he  would  be  in  a 
better  condition ;  he  would  be  living  a  more  normal 
and  satisfactory  life.  If  we  in  the  Occident  would 
take  more  time  from  the  rush  and  activity  of  life 
for  contemplation,  for  meditation,  for  idealization, 


All  Life  from   Within  59 

for  becoming  acquainted  with  our  real  selves,  and 
then  go  about  our  work  manifesting  the  powers  of 
our  real  selves,  we  would  be  far  better  off,  because 
we  would  be  living  a  more  natural,  a  more  normal 
life.  To  find  one's  centre,  to  become  centred  in  the 
Infinite,  is  the  first  great  essential  of  every  satis- 
factory life ;  and  then  to  go  out,  thinking,  speaking, 
working,  loving,  living,  from  this  centre. 

Character-Building  Thought  Power. 


XVIII. 

HEREDITY    AND    THE    HIGHER    POWER. 

In  the  highest  character-building,  such  as  we 
have  been  considering,  there  are  those  who  feel  they 
are  handicapped  by  what  we  term  heredity.  In  a 
sense  they  are  right;  in  another  sense  they  are 
totally  wrong.  It  is  along  the  same  lines  as  the 
thought  which  many  before  us  had  inculcated  in 
them  through  the  couplet  in  the  New  England 
Primer :  "  In  Adam's  fall,  we  sinned  all."  Now, 
in  the  first  place,  it  is  rather  hard  to  understand 
the  justice  of  this  if  it  is  true.  In  the  second  place, 
it  is  rather  hard  to  understand  why  it  is  true.  And 
in  the  third  place  there  is  no  truth  in  it  at  all.  We 
are  now  dealing  with  the  real  essential  self,  and, 
however  old  Adam  is,  God  is  eternal.  This  means 
you;  it  means  me;  it  means  every  human  soul. 
When  we  fully  realize  this  fact  we  see  that  heredity 
is  a  reed  that  is  easily  broken.  The  life  of  every 
one  is  in  his  own  hands  and  he  can  make  it  in  char- 
acter, in  attainment,  in  power,  in  divine  self-reali- 
zation, and  hence  in  influence,  exactly  what  he  wills 
to  make  it.  All  things  that  he  most  fondly  dreams 
of  are  his,  or  may  become  so  if  he  is  truly  in  ear- 
nest; and  as  he  rises  more  and  more  to  his  ideal, 
and  grows  in  the  strength  and  influence  of  his  char- 


Heredity  and  the  Higher  Pozver  6 1 

acter,  he  becomes  an  example  and  an  inspiration 
to  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact;  so  that 
through  him  the  weak  and  faltering  are  encouraged 
and  strengthened ;  so  that  those  of  low  ideals  and 
of  a  low  type  of  life  instinctively  and  inevitably 
have  their  ideals  raised,  and  the  ideals  of  no  one 
can  be  raised  without  its  showing  forth  in  his 
outer  life.  As  he  advances  in  his  grasp  upon  and 
understanding  of  the  power  and  potency  of  the 
thought-forces,  he  finds  that  many  times  through 
the  process  of  mental  suggestion  he  can  be  of  tre- 
mendous aid  to  one  who  is  weak  and  struggling, 
by  sending  to  him  now  and  then,  and  by  continu- 
ally holding  him  in  the  highest  thought,  in  the 
thought  of  the  highest  strength,  wisdom,  and  love. 

The  one  who  takes  sufficient  time  in  the  quiet 
mentally  to  form  his  ideals,  sufficient  time  to  make 
and  to  keep  continually  his  conscious  connection 
with  the  Infinite,  with  the  Divine  life  and  forces, 
is  the  one  who  is  best  adapted  to  the  strenuous  life. 
He  it  is  who  can  go  out  and  deal  with  sagacity  and 
power  with  whatever  issues  may  arise  in  the  affairs 
of  every-day  life.  He  it  is  who  is  building  not  for 
the  years,  but  for  the  centuries;  not  for  time,  but 
for  the  eternities.  And  he  can  go  out  knowing  not 
whither  he  goes,  knowing  that  the  Divine  life 
within  him  will  never  fail  him,  but  will  lead  him  on 
until  he  beholds  the  Father  face  to  face. 

He  is  building  for  the  centuries  because  only 
that  which  is  the  highest,  the  truest,  the  noblest, 


62  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

and  best  will  abide  the  test  of  the  centuries.  He 
is  building  for  eternity  because  when  the  transition 
we  call  death  takes  place,  life,  character,  self- 
mastery,  divine  self-realization, — the  only  things 
that  the  soul  when  stripped  of  everything  else  takes 
with  it, — he  has  in  abundance.  In  life,  or  when  the 
time  of  the  transition  to  another  form  of  life  comes, 
he  is  never  afraid,  never  fearful,  because  he  knows 
and  realizes  that  behind  him,  within  him,  beyond 
him,  is  the  Infinite  wisdom  and  love;  and  in  this 
he  is  eternally  centred,  and  from  it  he  can  never  be 
separated.    With  Whittier  he  sings : 

"I  know  not  where  His  islands  lift 
Their  fronded  palms  in  air; 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 
Beyond  His  love  and  care." 
Character-Building  Thought  Power. 


XIX. 

CASTLES    IN    THE   AIR. 

In  our  very  laboratory  experiments  we  are  dem- 
onstrating the  great  fact  that  thoughts  are  forces. 
They  have  form,  and  quality,  and  substance,  and 
power,  and  we  are  beginning  to  find  that  there  is 
what  we  may  term  a  science  of  thought. 

Everything  in  the  material  universe  about  us, 
everything  the  universe  has  ever  known,  had  its 
origin  first  in  thought.  From  this  it  took  its  form. 
Every  castle,  every  statue,  every  painting,  every 
piece  of  mechanism,  everything  had  its  birth,  its 
origin,  first  in  the  mind  of  the  one  who  formed  it 
before  it  received  its  material  expression  or  em- 
bodiment. The  very  universe  in  which  we  live  is 
the  result  of  the  thought  energies  of  God,  the  In- 
finite Spirit  that  is  back  of  all.  And  if  it  is  true, 
as  we  have  found,  that  we  in  our  true  selves  are  in 
essence  the  same,  and  in  this  sense  are  one  with 
the  life  of  this  Infinite  Spirit,  do  we  not  then  see 
that  in  the  degree  that  we  come  into  a  vital  reali- 
zation of  this  stupendous  fact,  we,  through  the 
operation  of  our  interior,  spiritual,  thought  forces, 
have  in  like  sense  creative  power? 

Everything  exists  in  the  unseen  before  it  is  mani- 


64  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

fested  or  realized  in  the  seen,  and  in  this  sense  it 
is  true  that  the  unseen  things  are  the  real,  while 
the  things  that  are  seen  are  the  unreal.  The  un- 
seen things  are  cause ;  the  seen  things  are  effect. 
The  unseen  things  are  the  eternal;  the  seen  things 
are  the  changing,  the  transient. 

The  "  power  of  the  word  "  is  a  literal  scientific 
fact.  Through  the  operation  of  our  thought  forces 
we  have  creative  power.  The  spoken  word  is  noth- 
ing more  nor  less  than  the  outward  expression  of 
the  workings  of  these  interior  forces.  The  spoken 
word  is  then,  in  a  sense,  the  means  whereby  the 
thought  forces  are  focused  and  directed  along  any 
particular  line;  and  this  concentration,  this  giving 
them  direction,  is  necessary  before  any  outward  or 
material  manifestation  of  their  power  can  become 
evident. 

Much  is  said  in  regard  to  "building  castles  in 
the  air,"  and  one  who  is  given  to  this  building  is 
not  always  looked  upon  with  favor.  But  castles  in 
the  air  are  always  necessary  before  we  can  have 
castles  on  the  ground,  before  we  can  have  castles 
in  which  to  live.  The  trouble  with  the  one  who 
gives  himself  to  building  castles  in  the  air  is  not 
that  he  builds  them  in  the  air,  but  that  he  does  not 
go  farther  and  actualize  in  life,  in  character,  in 
material  form,  the  castles  he  thus  builds.  He  does 
a  part  of  the  work,  a  very  necessary  part ;  but  an- 
other equally  necessary  part  remains  still  undone. 

There  is  in  connection  with  the  thought  forces 


Castles  in  the  Air  6$ 

what  we  may  term,  the  drawing  power  of  mind, 
and  the  great  law  operating  here  is  one  with  that 
great  law  of  the  universe,  that  like  attracts  like. 
We  are  continually  attracting  to  us  from  both  the 
seen  and  the  unseen  side  of  life,  forces  and  condi- 
tions most  akin  to  those  of  our  own  thoughts. 

This  law  is  continually  operating  whether  we  are 
conscious  of  it  or  not.  We  are  all  living,  so  to 
speak,  in  a  vast  ocean  of  thought,  and  the  very 
atmosphere  around  us  is  continually  filled  with  the 
thought  forces  that  are  being  continually  sent  or 
that  are  continually  going  out  in  the  form  of 
thought  waves.  We  are  all  affected,  more  or  less, 
by  these  thought  forces,  either  consciously  or  un- 
consciously; and  in  the  degree  that  we  are  more 
or  less  sensitively  organized,  or  in  the  degree  that 
we  are  negative  and  so  are  open  to  outside  influ- 
ences, rather  than  positive,  thus  determining  what 
influences  shall  enter  into  our  realm  of  thought, 
and  hence  into  our  lives. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XX. 


THE    ANCHOR     OF     THE     SENSITIVELY 
ORGANIZED. 

There  are  those  among  us  who  are  much  more 
sensitively  organized  than  others.  As  an  organism 
their  bodies  are  more  finely,  more  sensitively  con- 
structed. These,  generally  speaking,  are  people 
who  are  always  more  or  less  affected  by  the  men- 
talities of  those  with  whom  they  come  in  contact, 
or  in  whose  company  they  are.  A  friend,  the  editor 
of  one  of  our  great  journals,  is  so  sensitively  or- 
ganized that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  attend  a 
gathering,  such  as  a  reception,  talk  and  shake  hands 
with  a  number  of  people  during  the  course  of  the 
evening,  without  taking  on  to  a  greater  or  less  ex- 
tent their  various  mental  and  physical  conditions. 
These  affect  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  is  scarcely 
himself  and  in  his  best  condition  for  work  until 
some  two  or  three  days  afterward. 

Some  think  it  unfortunate  for  one  to  be  sensi- 
tively organized.  By  no  means.  It  is  a  good  thing, 
for  one  may  thus  be  more  open  and  receptive  to 
the  higher  impulses  of  the  soul  within,  and  to  all 
higher  forces  and  influences  from  without.  It  may, 
however,  be  unfortunate  and  extremely  inconven- 
ient to  be  so  organized  unless  one  recognize  and 


The  Anchor  of  the  Sensitively  Organized    67 

gain  the  power  of  closing  himself,  of  making  him- 
self positive  to  all  detrimental  or  undesirable  in- 
fluences. This  power  every  one,  however  sensi- 
tively organized  he  may  be,  can  acquire. 

This  he  can  acquire  through  the  mind's  action. 
And,  moreover,  there  is  no  habit  of  more  value 
to  anyone,  be  he  sensitively  or  less  sensitively  or- 
ganized, than  that  of  occasionally  taking  and  hold- 
ing himself  continually  in  the  attitude  of  mind — I 
close  myself,  I  make  myself  positive  to  all  things 
below,  and  open  and  receptive  to  all  higher  influ- 
ences, to  all  things  above.  By  taking  this  attitude 
of  mind  consciously  now  and  then,  it  soon  becomes 
a  habit,  and  if  one  is  deeply  in  earnest  in  regard  to 
it,  it  puts  into  operation  silent  but  subtle  and  power- 
ful influences  in  effecting  the  desired  results.  In 
this  way  all  lower  and  undesirable  influences  from 
both  the  seen  and  the  unseen  side  of  life  are  closed 
out,  while  all  higher  influences  are  invited,  and  in 
the  degree  that  they  are  invited  will  they  enter. 

The  fact  of  life  in  whatever  form,  means  the  con- 
tinuance of  life,  even  though  the  form  be  changed. 
Life  is  the  one  eternal  principle  of  the  universe  and 
so  always  continues,  even  though  the  form  of  the 
agency  through  which  it  manifests  be  changed. 
"  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions."  And 
surely,  because  the  individual  has  dropped,  has 
gone  out  of  the  physical  body,  there  is  no  evidence 
at  all  that  the  life  does  not  go  right  on  the  same 


6&  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

as  before,  not  commencing, — for  there  is  no  cessa- 
tion,— but  commencing  in  the  other  form,  exactly 
where  it  has  left  off  here ;  for  all  life  is  a  continu- 
ous evolution,  step  by  step ;  there  one  neither  skips 
nor  jumps. 

We  cannot  rationally  believe  other  than  that 
those  who  have  labored  in  love  and  with  uplifting 
power  here  are  still  laboring  in  the  same  way,  and 
in  all  probability  with  more  earnest  zeal,  and  with 
still  greater  power. 

"  And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I  pray  thee, 
open  his  eyes,  that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man;  and  he  saw: 
and,  behold,  the  mountain  zvas  full  of  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha." 

In  Tune  zvith  the  Infinite. 


XXI. 

HOW    WE    ATTRACT     SUCCESS    OR 
FAILURE. 

As  science  is  so  abundantly  demonstrating  to- 
day,—the  things  that  we  see  are  but  a  very  small 
fraction  of  the  things  that  are.  The  real,  vital 
forces  at  work  in  our  own  lives  and  in  the  world 
about  us  are  not  seen  by  the  ordinary  physical  eye. 
Yet  they  are  the  causes  of  which  all  things  we  see 
are  merely  the  effects.  Thoughts  are  forces;  like 
builds  like,  and  like  attracts  like.  For  one  to  gov- 
ern his  thinking,  then,  is  to  determine  his  life. 

Says  one  of  deep  insight  into  the  nature  of 
things:  "The  law  of  correspondences  between 
spiritual  and  material  things  is  wonderfully  exact 
in  its  workings.  People  ruled  by  the  mood  of  gloom 
attract  to  them  gloomy  things.  People  always  dis- 
couraged and  despondent  do  not  succeed  in  any- 
thing, and  live  only  by  burdening  some  one  else. 
The  hopeful,  confident,  and  cheerful  attract  the 
elements  of  success.  A  man's  front  or  back  yard 
will  advertise  that  man's  ruling  mood  in  the  way  it 
is  kept.  A  woman  at  home  shows  her  state  of  mind 
in  her  dress.  A  slattern  advertises  the  ruling  mood 
of  hopelessness,  carelessness,  and  lack  of  system. 
Rags,  tatters,  and  dirt  are  always  in  the  mind  be- 
fore being  on  the  body.  The  thought  that  is  most 
put  out  brings  its  corresponding  visible  element  to 


yo  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

crystallize  about  you  as  surely  and  literally  as  the 
visible  bit  of  copper  in  solution  attracts  to  it  the 
invisible  copper  in  that  solution.  A  mind  always 
hopeful,  confident,  courageous,  and  determined  on 
its  set  purpose,  and  keeping  itself  to  that  purpose, 
attracts  to  itself  out  of  the  elements  things  and 
powers  favorable  to  that  purpose. 

"  Every  thought  of  yours  has  a  literal  value  to 
you  in  every  possible  way.  The  strength  of  your 
body,  the  strength  of  your  mind,  your  success  in 
business,  and  the  pleasure  your  company  brings 
others,  depends  on  the  nature  of  your  thoughts. 
.  .  .  In  whatever  mood  you  set  your  mind  does 
your  spirit  receive  of  unseen  substance  in  corre- 
spondence with  that  mood.  It  is  as  much  a  chem- 
ical law  as  a  spiritual  law.  Chemistry  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  elements  we  see.  The  elements  we  do 
not  see  with  the  physical  eye  outnumber  ten  thou- 
sand times  those  we  do  see." 

Faith  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  operation 
of  the  thought  forces  in  the  form  of  an  earnest  de- 
sire, coupled  with  expectation  as  to  its  fulfillment. 
And  in  the  degree  that  faith,  the  earnest  desire  thus 
sent  out,  is  continually  held  to  and  watered  by  firm 
expectation,  in  just  that  degree  does  it  either  draw 
to  itself,  or  does  it  change  from  the  unseen  into  the 
visible,  from  the  spiritual  into  the  material,  that 
for  which  it  is  sent. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXII. 
FEAR    BRINGS    FAILURE. 

Nothing  is  more  subtle  than  thought,  nothing 
more  powerful,  nothing  more  irresistible  in  its 
operations,  when  rightly  applied  and  held  to  with 
a  faith  and  fidelity  that  is  unswerving, — a  faith  and 
fidelity  that  never  knows  the  neutralizing  effects  of 
doubt  and  fear.  If  one  have  aspirations  and  a  sin- 
cere desire  for  a  higher  and  better  condition,  so  far 
as  advantages,  facilities,  associates,  or  any  sur- 
roundings or  environments  are  concerned,  and  if 
he  continually  send  out  his  highest  thought  forces 
for  the  realization  of  these  desires,  and  continually 
water  these  forces  with  firm  expectation  as  to  their 
fulfillment,  he  will  sooner  or  later  find  himself  in 
the  realization  of  these  desires,  and  all  in  accordance 
with  natural  laws  and  forces. 

Fear  brings  its  own  fulfillment  the  same  as  hope. 
The  same  law  operates,  and  if,  as  our  good  and 
valued  friend,  Job,  said  when  the  darkest  days 
were  setting  in  upon  him,  That  which  I  feared  has 
come  upon  me, — was  true,  how  much  more  surely 
could  he  have  brought  about  the  opposite  condi- 
tions, those  he  would  have  desired,  had  he  had 
even  the  slightest  realization  of  his  own  powers, 
and  had  he  acted  the  part  of  the  master  instead  of 


72  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

that  of  the  servant,  had  he  dictated  terms  instead 
of  being  dictated  to,  and  thus  suffering  the  con- 
sequences. 

If  one  finds  himself  in  any  particular  condition, 
in  the  midst  of  any  surroundings  or  environments 
that  are  not  desirable,  that  have  nothing— at  least 
for  any  length  of  time — that  is  of  value  to  him,  for 
his  highest  life  and  unfoldment,  he  has  the  remedy 
entirely  within  his  own  grasp  the  moment  he  re- 
alizes the  power  and  supremacy  of  the  forces  of  the 
mind  and  spirit;  and,  unless  he  intelligently  use 
these  forces,  he  drifts.  Unless  through  them  he 
becomes  master  and  dictates,  he  becomes  the  slave 
and  is  dictated  to,  and  so  is  driven  hither  and 
thither. 

Earnest,  sincere  desire,  sincere  aspiration  for 
higher  and  better  conditions  or  means  to  realize 
them,  the  thought-forces  actively  sent  out  for  their 
realization,  these  continually  watered  by  firm  ex- 
pectation without  allowing  the  contrary,  neutraliz- 
ing force  of  fear  ever  to  enter  in, — this,  accom- 
panied by  rightly  directed  work  and  activity,  will 
bring  about  the  fullest  realization  of  one's  highest 
desires  and  aspirations  with  a  certainty  as  absolute 
as  that  effect  follows  cause.  Each  and  every  one 
of  us  can  thus  make  for  himself  ever  higher  and 
higher  conditions,  can  attract  ever  higher  and  higher 
influences,  can  realize  an  ever  higher  and  higher 
ideal  in  life.  These  are  the  forces  that  are  within 
us,  simply  waiting  to  be  recognized  and  used, — the 


Fear  Brings  Failure  73 

forces  that  we  should  infuse  into  and  mould  every- 
day life  with.  The  moment  we  vitally  recognize 
them,  they  become  our  servants  and  wait  upon  our 
bidding. 

We  are  born  to  be  neither  slaves  nor  beggars, 
but  to  dominion  and  to  plenty.  This  is  our  right- 
ful heritage,  if  we  will  but  recognize  and  lay  claim 
to  it.  Many  a  man  and  many  a  woman  is  to-day 
longing  for  conditions  better  and  higher  than  he 
or  she  is  in,  who  might  be  using  the  same  time  now 
spent  in  vain,  indefinite,  spasmodic  longings,  in 
putting  into  operation  forces  which,  accompanied 
by  the  right  personal  activity,  would  speedily  bring 
the  fullest  realization  of  his  or  her  fondest  dreams. 
What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XXIII. 

HEART    TRAINING     THROUGH    THE 
ANIMAL   WORLD. 

It  is  an  established  fact  that  the  training  of  the 
intellect  alone  is  not  sufficient.  Nothing  in  this 
world  can  be  truer  than  that  the  education  of  the 
head,  without  the  training  of  the  heart,  simply  in- 
creases one's  power  for  evil,  while  the  education 
of  the  heart,  along  with  the  head,  increases  one's 
power  for  good,  and  this,  indeed,  is  the  true  educa- 
tion. 

Clearly  we  must  begin  with  the  child.  The 
lessons  learned  in  childhood  are  the  last  to  be  for- 
gotten. Let  them  be  taught  that  the  lower  animals 
are  God's  creatures,  as  they  themselves  are,  put  here 
by  a  common  Heavenly  Father,  each  for  its  own 
special  purpose,  and  that  they  have  the  same  right 
to  life  and  protection.  Let  them  be  taught  that 
principle  recognised  by  all  noble-hearted  men,  that 
it  is  only  a  depraved,  debased,  and  cowardly  nature 
that  will  injure  an  inferior,  defenceless  creature, 
simply  because  it  is  in  its  power  to  do  so,  and  that 
there  is  no  better,  no  grander  test  of  true  bravery 
and  nobility  of  character  than  one's  treatment  of 
the  lower  animals. 

I  cannot  refrain  in  this  connection  from  quoting 


Heart   Training  through  the  Animal  World  7$ 

a  sentence  or  two  from  Archdeacon  Farrar  which 
have  recently  come  to  my  notice : 

44  Not  once  or  twice  only,  at  the  seaside,  have  I 
come  across  a  sad  and  disgraceful  sight — a  sight 
which  haunts  me  still — a  number  of  harmless  sea- 
birds  lying  defaced  and  dead  upon  the  sand,  their 
white  plumage  red  with  blood,  as  they  had  been 
tossed  there,  dead  or  Half-dead,  their  torture  and 
massacre  having  furnished  a  day's  amusement  to 
heartless  and  senseless  men.  Amusement!  I  say 
execrable  amusement!  All  killing  for  mere  kill- 
ing's sake  is  execrable  amusement.  Can  you  im- 
agine the  stupid  callousness,  the  utter  insensibility 
to  mercy  and  beauty,  of  the  man  who,  seeing  those 
bright,  beautiful  creatures  as  their  white,  immacu- 
late wings  flash  in  the  sunshine  over  the  blue  waves, 
can  go  out  in  a  boat  with  his  boys  to  teach  them 
to  become  brutes  in  character  by  finding  amuse- 
ment— I  say,  again,  dis-humanising  amusement — 
by  wantonly  murdering  these  fair  birds  of  God,  or 
cruelly  wounding  them,  and  letting  them  fly  away 
to  wait  and  die  in  lonely  places  ?  " 

And  another  paragraph  which  was  sent  me  by  a 
kind  friend  to  our  fellow-creatures  a  few  days  ago : 

44  The  celebrated  Russian  novelist,  Turgeniefr*, 
tells  a  most  touching  incident  from  his  own  life, 
which  awakened  in  him  sentiments  that  have  col- 
oured all  his  writings  with  a  deep  and  tender  feel- 
ing. 

44  When  Turgeniefr"  was  a  boy  of  ten  his  father 


j6  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

took  him  out  one  day  bird-shooting.  As  they 
tramped  across  the  brown  stubble,  a  golden  pheas- 
ant rose  with  a  low  whirr  from  the  ground  at  his 
feet,  and,  with  the  joy  of  a  sportsman  throbbing 
through  his  veins,  he  raised  his  gun  and  fired,  wild 
with  excitement  when  the  creature  fell  fluttering  at 
his  side.  Life  was  ebbing  fast,  but  the  instinct  of 
the  mother  was  stronger  than  death  itself,  and  with 
a  feeble  flutter  of  her  wings  the  mother  bird 
reached  the  nest  where  her  young  brood  were  hud- 
dled, unconscious  of  danger.  Then,  with  such  a 
look  of  pleading  and  reproach  that  his  heart  stood 
still  at  the  ruin  he  had  wrought, — and  never  to  his 
dying  day  did  he  forget  the  feeling  of  cruelty  and 
guilt  that  came  to  him  in  that  moment, — the  little 
brown  head  toppled  over,  and  only  the  dead  body 
of  the  mother  shielded  her  nestlings. 

"  '  Father,  father/  he  cried,  '  what  have  I  done  ?  ' 
as  he  turned  his  horror-stricken  face  to  his  father. 
But  not  to  his  father's  eye  had  this  little  tragedy 
been  enacted,  and  he  said :  '  Well  done,  my  son ; 
that  was  well  done  for  your  first  shot.  You  will 
soon  be  a  fine  sportsman.' 

"  '  Never,  father ;  never  again  shall  I  destroy  any 
living  creature.  If  that  is  sport  I  will  have  none 
of  it.  Life  is  more  beautiful  to  me  than  death,  and 
since  I  cannot  give  life,  I  will  not  take  it.'  " 

And  so,  instead  of  putting  into  the  hands  of  the 
child  a  gun  or  any  other  weapon  that  may  be  in- 
strumental   in   crippling,   torturing,    or   taking   the 


Heart   Training  through  the  Animal  World  J*] 

life  of  even  a  single  animal,  I  would  give  him  the 
field-glass  and  the  camera,  and  send  him  out  to  be 
a  friend  to  the  animals,  to  observe  and  study  their 
characteristics,  their  habits,  to  learn  from  them 
those  wonderful  lessons  that  can  be  learned,  and 
thus  have  his  whole  nature  expand  in  admiration 
and  love  and  care  for  them,  and  become  thereby 
the  truly  manly  and  princely  type  of  man,  rather 
than  the  careless,  callous,  brutal  type. 

Every  Living  Creature. 


XXIV. 

THE    SECRET    AND    THE    POWER   OF 
LOVE. 


When  we  fully  realize  the  great  fact  of  the  one- 
ness of  all  life, — that  all  are  partakers  from  this 
one  Infinite  Source,  and  so  that  the  same  life  is  the 
life  in  each  individual,  then  prejudices  go  and 
hatreds  cease.  Love  grows  and  reigns  supreme. 
Then,  wherever  we  go,  whenever  we  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  fellowman,  we  are  able  to  recognize 
the  God  within.  We  thus  look  only  for  the  good, 
and  we  find  it.    It  always  pays. 

There  is  a  deep  scientific  fact  underlying  the 
great  truth,  "  He  that  takes  the  sword  shall  perish 
by  the  sword."  The  moment  we  come  into  a  re- 
alization of  the  subtle  power  of  the  thought  forces, 
we  can  quickly  see  that  the  moment  we  entertain 
any  thoughts  of  hatred  toward  another,  he  gets  the 
effects  of  these  diabolical  forces  that  go  out  from 
us,  and  has  the  same  thoughts  of  hatred  aroused 
in  him,  which  in  turn  return  to  the  sender.  Then 
when  we  understand  the  effects  of  the  passion, 
hatred  or  anger,  even  upon  the  physical  body,  we 
can  see  how  detrimental,  how  expensive  this  is. 
The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  all  kindred  thoughts 
or  passions,  envy,  criticism,  jealousy,  scorn.    In  the 


The  Secret  and  the  Power  of  Love         79 

ultimate  we  shall  find  that  in  entertaining  feelings 
of  this  nature  toward  another,  we  always  suffer 
far  more  than  the  one  toward  whom  we  entertain 
them. 

And  then  when  we  fully  realize  the  fact  that  sel- 
fishness is  at  the  root  of  all  error,  sin,  and  crime, 
and  that  ignorance  is  the  basis  of  all  selfishness, 
with  what  charity  we  come  to  look  upon  the  acts 
of  all.  It  is  the  ignorant  man  who  seeks  his  own 
ends  at  the  expense  of  the  greater  whole.  It  is 
the  ignorant  man,  therefore,  who  is  the  selfish  man. 
The  truly  wise  man  is  never  selfish.  He  is  a  seer, 
and  recognizes  the  fact  that  he,  a  single  member 
of  the  one  great  body,  is  benefited  in  just  the  de- 
gree that  the  entire  body  is  benefited,  and  so  he 
seeks  nothing  for  himself  that  he  would  not  equally 
seek  for  all  mankind. 

If  selfishness  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  error,  sin, 
and  crime,  and  ignorance  is  the  basis  of  all  selfish- 
ness, then  when  we  see  a  manifestation  of  either  of 
these  qualities,  if  we  are  true  to  the  highest  within 
us,  we  will  look  for  and  will  seek  to  call  forth  the 
good  in  each  individual  with  whom  we  come  in  con- 
tact. When  God  speaks  to  God,  then  God  re- 
sponds, and  shows  forth  as  God.  But  when  devil 
speaks  to  devil,  then  devil  responds,  and  the  devil 
is  always  to  pay. 

I  sometimes  hear  a  person  say,  "  I  don't  see  any 
good  in  him."  No?  Then  you  are  no  seer.  Look 
deeper  and  you  will  find  the  very  God  in  every 


80  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

human  soul.  But  remember  it  takes  a  God  to  rec- 
ognize a  God.  Christ  always  spoke  to  the  highest, 
the  truest,  and  the  best  in  men.  He  knew  and  he 
recognized  the  God  in  each  because  he  had  first 
realized  it  in  himself.  He  ate  with  publicans  and 
sinners.  Abominable,  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
said.  They  were  so  wrapped  up  in  their  own  con- 
ceits, their  own  self-centredness,  hence  their  own 
ignorance,  that  they  had  never  found  the  God  in 
themselves,  and  so  they  never  dreamed  that  it  was 
the  real  life  of  even  publicans  and  sinners. 

In  the  degree  that  we  hold  a  person  in  the  thought 
of  evil  or  of  error,  do  we  suggest  evil  and  error 
to  him.  In  the  degree  that  he  is  sensitively  or- 
ganized, or  not  well  individualized,  and  so,  subject 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  thought  forces  from 
others,  will  he  be  influenced ;  and  so  in  this  way  we 
may  be  sharers  in  the  very  evildoing  in  which  we 
hold  another  in  thought.  In  the  same  way  when 
we  hold  a  person  in  the  thought  of  the  right,  the 
good,  and  the  true,  righteousness,  goodness,  and 
truth  are  suggested  to  him,  and  thus  we  have  a 
most  beneficent  influence  on  his  life  and  conduct. 
If  our  hearts  go  out  in  love  to  all  with  whom  we 
come  in  contact,  we  inspire  love,  and  the  same 
ennobling  and  warming  influences  of  love  always 
return  to  us  from  those  in  whom  we  inspire  them. 
There  is  a  deep  scientific  principle  underlying  the 
precept — If  you  would  have  all  the  world  love  you, 
you  must  first  love  all  the  world. 


The  Secret  and  the  Power  of  Love         Sr 

In  the  degree  that  we  love  will  we  be  loved. 
Thoughts  are  forces.  Each  creates  of  its  kind. 
Each  comes  back  laden  with  the  effect  that  cor- 
responds to  itself  and  of  which  it  is  the  cause. 

"Then  let  your  secret  thoughts  be  fair — 
They  have  a  vital  part,  and  share 
In  shaping  words  and  moulding  fate; 
God's  system  is  so  intricate." 

I  know  of  no  better  practice  than  that  of  a  friend 
who  continually  holds  himself  in  an  attitude  of 
mind  that  he  continually  sends  out  his  love  in  the 
form  of  the  thought, — "  Dear  everybody,  I  love 
you."  And  when  we  realize  the  fact  that  a  thought 
invariably  produces  its  effect  before  it  returns,  or 
before  it  ceases,  we  can  see  how  he  is  continually 
breathing  out  a  blessing  not  only  upon  all  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact,  but  upon  all  the  world. 
These  same  thoughts  of  love,  moreover,  tokened  in 
various  ways,  are  continually  coming  to  him  from 
all  quarters. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXV. 

THEN  GIVE  TO  THE  WORLD  THE  BEST 

YOU  HAVE,  AND  THE  BEST  WILL 

COME  BACK  TO  YOU. 

What  a  privilege  and  how  enjoyable  it  would  be 
to  live  and  walk  in  a  world  where  we  meet  only 
Gods.  In  such  a  world  you  can  live.  In  such  a 
world  I  can  live.  For  in  the  degree  that  we  come 
into  this  higher  realization  do  we  see  only  the  God 
in  each  human  soul;  and  when  we  are  thus  able 
to  see  him  in  every  one  we  meet,  we  then  live  in 
such  a  world. 

And  when  we  thus  recognize  the  God  in  every 
one,  we  by  this  recognition  help  to  call  it  forth 
ever  more  and  more.  What  a  privilege, — this  priv- 
ilege of  yours,  this  privilege  of  mine !  That  hypo- 
critical judging  of  another  is  something  then  with 
which  we  can  have  nothing  to  do ;  for  we  have  the 
power  of  looking  beyond  the  evolving,  changing, 
error-making  self,  and  seeing  the  real,  the  change- 
less, the  eternal  self  which  by  and  by  will  show 
forth  in  the  full  beauty  of  holiness.  We  are  then 
large  enough  also  to  realize  the  fact  that  when  we 
condemn  another,  by  that  very  act  we  condemn 
ourselves. 

This  realization  so  fills  us  with  love  that  we  con- 
tinually overflow  it,  and  all  with  whom  we  come 


Give  to  the   World  the  Best   You  Have     83 

in  contact  feel  its  warming  and  life-giving  power. 
These  in  turn  send  back  the  same  feelings  of  love 
to  us,  and  so  we  continually  attract  love  from  all 
quarters.  Tell  me  how  much  one  loves  and  I  will 
tell  you  how  much  he  has  seen  of  God.  Tell  me 
how  much  he  loves  and  I  will  tell  you  how  much 
he  lives  with  God.  Tell  me  how  much  he  loves 
and  I  will  tell  you  how  far  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven, — the  kingdom  of  harmony,  he  has  entered, 
for  "  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 

And  in  a  sense  love  is  everything.  It  is  the  key 
to  life,  and  its  influences  are  those  that  move  the 
world.  Live  only  in  the  thought  of  love  for  all 
and  you  will  draw  love  to  you  from  all.  Live  in 
the  thought  of  malice  or  hatred,  and  malice  and 
hatred  will  come  back  to  you. 

"For  evil  poisons;  malice  shafts 
Like  boomerangs  return, 
Inflicting  wounds  that  will  not  heal 
While  rage  and  anger  burn." 

Every  thought  you  entertain  is  a  force  that  goes 
out,  and  every  thought  comes  back  laden  with  its 
kind.  This  is  an  immutable  law.  Every  thought 
you  entertain  has  moreover  a  direct  effect  upon 
your  body.  Love  and  its  kindred  emotions  are  the 
normal  and  the  natural,  those  in  accordance  with 
the  eternal  order  of  the  universe,  for  "  God  is  love." 
These  have  a  life-giving,  health-engendering  in- 
fluence upon  your  body,  besides  beautifying  your 
countenance,  enriching  your  voice,  and  making  you 


84  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

ever  more  attractive  in  every  way.  And  as  it  is 
true  that  in  the  degree  that  you  hold  thoughts  of 
love  for  all,  you  call  the  same  from  them  in  return, 
and  as  these  have  a  direct  effect  upon  your  mind, 
and  through  your  mind  upon  your  body,  it  is  as  so 
much  life  force  added  to  your  own  from  without. 
You  are  then  continually  building  this  into  both 
your  mental  and  your  physical  life,  and  so  your 
life  is  enriched  by  its  influence. 

Hatred  and  all  its  kindred  emotions  are  the  un- 
natural, the  abnormal,  the  perversions,  and  so,  out 
of  harmony  with  the  eternal  order  of  the  universe. 
For  if  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  then  these, 
its  opposites,  are  direct  violations  of  law,  and  there 
can  never  be  a  violation  of  law  without  its  attend- 
ant pain  and  suffering  in  one   form  or  another. 
There  is  no  escape  from  this.    And  what  is  the  re- 
sult of  this  particular  form  of  violation?     When 
you  allow  thoughts  of  anger,  hatred,  malice,  jeal- 
ousy, envy,  criticism,  or  scorn  to  exercise  sway, 
they  have  a  corroding  and  poisoning  effect  upon 
the  organism ;  they  pull  it  down,  and  if  allowed  to 
continue  will  eventually  tear  it  to  pieces  by  exter- 
nalizing themselves  in  the  particular  forms  of  dis- 
ease they  give  rise  to.    And  then  in  addition  to  the 
destructive  influences  from  your  own  mind  you  are 
continually  calling  the  same  influences  from  other 
minds,  and  these  come  as  destructive  forces  aug- 
menting your  own,  thus  aiding  in  the  tearing-down 
process. 


Give  to  the   World  the  Best   You  Have     85 

And  so  love  inspires  love ;  hatred  breeds  hatred. 
Love  and  good  will  stimulate  and  build  up  the 
body ;  hatred  and  malice  corrode  and  tear  it  down. 
Love  is  a  savor  of  life  unto  life ;  hatred  is  a  savor 
of  death  unto  death. 

"There  are  loyal  hearts,  there  are  spirits  brave, 
There  are  souls  that  are  pure  and  true; 
Then  give  to  the  world  the  best  you  have, 
And  the  best  will  come  back  to  you. 

"Give  love,  and  love  to  your  heart  will  flow, 
A  strength  in  your  utmost  need; 
Have  faith,  and  a  score  of  hearts  will  show 
Their  faith  in  your  word  and  deed." 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXVI. 

HATRED  NEVER  CEASES  BY  HATRED,, 
BUT  BY  LOVE. 

Love  is  positive,  and  stronger  than  hatred. 
Hatred  can  always  be  conquered  by  love. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  meet  hatred  with  hatred, 
you  simply  intensify  it.  You  add  fuel  to  the  flame 
already  kindled,  upon  which  it  will  feed  and  grow, 
and  so  you  increase  and  intensify  the  evil  condi- 
tions. Nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  it,  everything  is 
to  be  lost.  By  sending  love  for  hatred  you  will  be 
able  to  so  neutralize  it  that  it  will  not  only  have 
no  effect  upon  you,  but  will  not  be  able  even  to 
reach  you.  But  more  than  this,  you  will  by  this 
course  sooner  or  later  be  able  literally  to  transmute 
the  enemy  into  the  friend.  Meet  hatred  with  hatred 
and  you  degrade  yourself.  Meet  hatred  with  love 
and  you  elevate  not  only  yourself  but  also  the  one 
who  bears  you  hatred. 

The  Persian  sage  has  said,  "  Always  meet  petu- 
lance with  gentleness,  and  perverseness  with  kind- 
ness. A  gentle  hand  can  lead  even  an  elephant  by 
a  hair.  Reply  to  thine  enemy  with  gentleness. 
Opposition  to  peace  is  sin."  The  Buddhist  says, 
"  If  a  man  foolishly  does  me  wrong  I  will  return 
him  the  protection  of  my  ungrudging  love.  The 
more  evil  comes  from  him,  the  more  good  shall  go 


Hatred  Never  Ceases  by  Hatred  87 

from  me."  "The  wise  man  avenges  injuries  by 
benefits,"  says  the  Chinese.  "  Return  good  for  evil, 
overcome  anger  by  love;  hatred  never  ceases  by 
hatred,  but  by  love,"  says  the  Hindu. 

The  truly  wise  man  or  woman  will  recognize  no 
one  as  an  enemy.  Occasionally  we  hear  the  ex- 
pression, "  Never  mind ;  I'll  get  even  with  him." 
Will  you?  And  how  will  you  do  it?  You  can  do 
it  in  one  of  two  ways.  You  can,  as  you  have  in 
mind,  deal  with  him  as  he  deals,  or  apparently 
deals,  with  you, — pay  him,  as  we  say,  in  his  own 
coin.  If  you  do  this  you  will  get  even  with  him 
by  sinking  yourself  to  his  level,  and  both  of  you 
will  suffer  by  it.  Or,  you  can  show  yourself  the 
larger,  you  can  send  him  love  for  hatred,  kindness 
for  ill-treatment,  and  so  get  even  with  him  by  rais- 
ing him  to  the  higher  level.  But  remember  that  you 
can  never  help  another  without  by  that  very  act 
helping  yourself;  and  if  forgetful  of  self,  then  in 
most  all  cases  the  value  to  vou  is  greater  than  the 
service  you  render  another.  If  you  are  ready  to 
treat  him  as  he  treats  you,  then  you  show  clearly 
that  there  is  in  you  that  which  draws  the  hatred 
and  ill-treatment  to  you;  you  deserve  what  you 
are  getting  and  should  not  complain,  nor  would 
you  complain  if  you  were  wise.  By  following  the 
other  course  you  most  effectually  accomplish  your 
purpose, — you  gain  a  victory  for  yourself,  and  at 
the  same  time  you  do  a  great  service  for  him,  of 
which  it  is  evident  he  stands  greatly  in  need. 


88  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

Thus  -  may  become  his  saviour.  He  in  turn 
may  become  the  saviour  of  other  error-making,  and 
consequently  care-encumbered  men  and  women. 
Many  times  the  struggles  are  greater  than  we  can 
ever  know.  We  need  more  gentleness  and  sym- 
pathy and  compassion  in  our  common  human  life. 
Then  we  will  neither  blame  nor  condemn.  Instead 
of  blaming  or  condemning  we  will  sympathize,  and 
all  the  more  we  will 

1 '  Comfort  one  another, 
For  the  way  is  often  dreary, 
And  the  feet  are  often  weary, 

And  the  heart  is  very  sad. 
There  is  a  heavy  burden  bearing, 
When  it  seems  that  none  are  caring, 

And  we  half  forget  that  ever  we  were  glad. 

"Comfort  one  another 
With  the  hand-clasp  close  and  tender, 
With  the  sweetness  love  can  render, 

And  the  looks  of  friendly  eyes. 
Do  not  wait  with  grace  unspoken, 
While  life's  daily  bread  is  broken — 

Gentle  speech  is  oft  like  manna  from  the  skies." 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXVII. 

THOUGHT    AND    ITS    INTELLIGENT 
DIRECTION. 

Of  all  known  forms  of  energy,  thought  is  the 
most  subtle,  the  most  irresistible  force.  It  has  al- 
ways been  operating ;  but,  so  far  as  the  great  masses 
of  the  people  are  concerned,  it  has  been  operating 
blindly,  or,  rather,  they  have  been  blind  to  its 
mighty  power,  except  in  the  cases  of  a  few  here 
and  there.  And  these,  as  a  consequence,  have  been 
our  prophets,  our  seers,  our  sages,  our  saviors,  our 
men  of  great  and  mighty  power.  We  are  just  be- 
ginning to  grasp  the  tremendous  truth  that  there 
is  a  science  of  thought,  and  that  the  laws  govern- 
ing it  can  be  known  and  scientifically  applied. 

Thought  needs  direction  to  be  effective,  and  upon 
this  effective  results  depend  as  much  as  upon  the 
force  itself.  This  brings  us  to  the  will.  Will  is 
not,  as  is  so  often  thought,  a  force  in  itself;  will 
is  the  directing  power.  Thought  is  the  force. 
Will  gives  direction.  Thought  scattered  gives  the 
weak,  the  uncertain,  the  vacillating,  the  aspiring, 
but  the  never-doing,  the  I-would-like-to,  but  the 
get-no-where,  the  attain-to-nothing  man  or  woman. 
Thought    steadily   directed   by   the   will   gives   the 


go  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

strong,  the  firm,  the  never-yielding,  the  never- 
know-defeat  man  or  woman,  the  man  or  woman 
who  uses  the  very  difficulties  and  hindrances  that 
would  dishearten  the  ordinary  person,  as  stones 
with  which  he  paves  a  way  over  which  he  triumph- 
antly walks,  who,  by  the  very  force  he  carries 
with  him,  so  neutralizes  and  transmutes  the  very 
obstacles  that  would  bar  his  way  that  they  fall  be- 
fore him,  and  in  turn  aid  him  on  his  way ;  the  man 
or  woman  who,  like  the  eagle,  uses  the  very  con- 
trary wind  that  would  thwart  his  flight,  that  would 
turn  him  and  carry  him  in  the  opposite  direction, 
as  the  very  agency  upon  which  he  mounts  and 
mounts  and  mounts,  until  actually  lost  to  the  hu- 
man eye,  and  which,  in  addition  to  thus  aiding  him, 
brings  to  him  an  ever  fuller  realization  of  his  own 
powers,  or  in  other  words,  an  ever  greater  power. 
It  is  this  that  gives  the  man  or  the  woman  who 
in  storm  or  in  sunny  weather,  rides  over  every 
obstacle,  throws  before  him  every  barrier,  and,  as 
Browning  has  said,  finally  "  arrives."  Take,  for 
example,  the  successful  business  man, — for  it  is 
all  one,  the  law  is  the  same  in  all  cases, — the  man 
who  started  with  nothing  except  his  own  interior 
equipments.  He  has  made  up  his  mind  to  one 
thing, — success.  This  is  his  ideal.  He  thinks  suc- 
cess, he  sees  success.  He  refuses  to  see  anything 
else.  He  expects  success :  he  thus  attracts  it  to 
him,  his  thought-forces  continually  attract  to  him 
every  agency  that  makes  for  success.     He  has  set 


Thought  and  Its  Intelligent  Direction      91 

up  the  current,  so  that  every  wind  that  blows  brings 
him  success.  He  doesn't  expect  failure,  and  so  he 
doesn't  invite  it.  He  has  no  time,  no  energies,  to 
waste  in  fears  or  forebodings.  He  is  dauntless, 
untiring,  in  his  efforts.  Let  disaster  come  to-day, 
and  to-morrow — ay,  even  yet  to-day — he  is  getting 
his  bearings,  he  is  setting  forces  anew  into  opera- 
tion; and  these  very  forces  are  of  more  value  to 
him  than  the  half  million  dollars  of  his  neighbor 
who  has  suffered  from  the  same  disaster.  We 
speak  of  a  man's  failing  in  business,  little  thinking 
that  the  real  failure  came  long  before,  and  that  the 
final  crash  is  but  the  culmination,  the  outward  vis- 
ible manifestation,  of  the  real  failure  that  occurred 
within  possibly  long  ago.  A  man  carries  his  suc- 
cess or  his  failure  with  him:  it  is  not  dependent 
upon  outside  conditions. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XXVIII. 
WILI^-THE   HUMAN   AND   THE  DIVINE. 

Will  is  the  steady  directing  power:  it  is  concen- 
tration.    It  is  the  pilot  which,  after  the  vessel  is 
started  by  the  mighty  force  within,  puts  it  on  its 
right  course  and  keeps  it  true  to  that  course. 
•  •  .  •  • 

Will  is  the  sun-glass  which  so  concentrates  and 
so  focuses  the  sun's  rays  that  they  quickly  burn 
a  hole  through  the  paper  that  is  held  before  it. 
The  same  rays,  not  thus  concentrated,  not  thus 
focused,  would  fall  upon  the  paper  for  days  with- 
out any  effect  whatever.  Will  is  the  means  for  the 
directing,  the  concentrating,  the  focusing,  of  the 
thought-forces.  Thought  under  wise  direction, — 
this  it  is  that  does  the  work,  that  brings  results, 
that  makes  the  successful  career.  One  object  in 
mind  which  we  never  lose  sight  of ;  an  ideal  stead- 
ily held  before  the  mind,  never  lost  sight  of,  never 
lowered,  never  swerved  from, — this,  with  persist- 
ence, determines  all.  Nothing  can  resist  the  power 
of  thought,  when  thus  directed  by  will. 

May  not  this  power,  then,  be  used  for  base  as 
well  as  for  good  purposes,  for  selfish  as  well  as 
for  unselfish  ends?  The  same  with  this  modifica- 
tion,— the    more    highly    thought    is    spiritualized, 


Will — the  Human  and  the  Divine         93 

the  more  subtle  and  powerful  it  becomes ;  and  the 
more  highly  spiritualized  the  life,  the  farther  is  it 
removed  from  base,  ignoble,  selfish  ends.  But, 
even  if  it  can  be  thus  used,  let  him  who  would  so 
use  it  be  careful,  let  him  never  forget  that  that 
mighty,  searching,  omnipotent  law  of  the  right, 
of  truth,  of  justice,  that  runs  through  all  the  uni- 
verse and  that  can  never  be  annulled  or  even  for 
a  moment  set  aside,  will  drive  him  to  the  wall,  will 
crush  him  with  a  terrific  force  if  he  so  use  it. 

Let  him  never  forget  that  whatever  he  may  get 
for  self  at  the  expense  of  some  one  else,  through 
deception,  through  misrepresentation,  through  the 
exercise  of  the  lower  functions  and  powers,  will  by 
a  law  equally  subtle,  equally  powerful,  be  turned 
into  ashes  in  his  very  hands.  The  honey  he  thinks 
he  has  secured  will  be  turned  into  bitterness  as  he 
attempts  to  eat  it;  the  beautiful  fruit  he  thinks 
is  his  will  be  as  wormwood  as  he  tries  to  enjoy  it; 
the  rose  he  has  plucked  will  vanish,  and  he  will 
find  himself  clutching  a  handful  of  thorns,  which 
will  penetrate  to  the  very  quick  and  which  will  flow 
the  very  life-blood  from  his  hands.  For  through 
the  violation  of  a  higher,  an  immutable  law,  though 
he  may  get  this  or  that,  the  power  of  true  enjoy- 
ment will  be  taken  away,  and  what  he  gets  will 
become  as  a  thorn  in  his  side :  either  this  or  it  will 
sooner  or  later  escape  from  his  hands.  God's  tri- 
umphal car  moves  in  a  direction  and  at  a  rate  that 
is  certain  and  absolute,  and  he  who  would  oppose 


94  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

it  or  go  contrary  to  it  must  fall  and  be  crushed 
beneath  its  wheels;  and  for  him  this  crushing  is 
necessary,  in  order  that  it  may  bring  him  the  more 
quickly  to  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  laws,  to  a 
realization  of  the  higher  self. 

This  brings  to  our  notice  two  orders  of  will, 
which  we  may  term,  for  convenience'  sake,  the  hu- 
man and  the  divine.  The  human  will  is  the  one 
just  noticed,  the  sense  will,  the  will  of  the  lower 
self,  that  which  seeks  its  own  ends  regardless  of 
its  connection  with  the  greater  whole.  The  divine 
will  is  the  will  of  the  higher  self,  the  God-self,  that 
never  makes  an  error,  that  never  leads  into  diffi- 
culties. 

It  is  thus  that  the  Infinite  Power  works  through 
and  for  us — true  inspiration — while  our  part  is 
simply  to  see  that  our  connection  with  this  power 
is  consciously  and  perfectly  kept. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XXIX. 
THE  SECRET  OF  THE  HIGHEST  POWER. 

The  secret  of  the  highest  power  is  simply  the 
uniting  of  the  outer  agencies  of  expression  with  the 
Power  that  works  from  within.  Are  you  a  painter  ? 
Then  in  the  degree  that  you  open  yourself  to  the 
power  of  the  forces  within  will  you  become  great 
instead  of  mediocre.  You  can  never  put  into  per- 
manent form  inspirations  higher  than  those  that 
come  through  your  own  soul.  In  order  for  the 
higher  inspirations  to  come  through  it,  you  must 
open  your  soul,  you  must  open  it  fully  to  the  Su- 
preme Source  of  all  inspiration.  Are  you  an 
orator  ?  In  the  degree  that  you  come  into  harmony 
and  work  in  conjunction  with  the  higher  powers 
that  will  speak  through  you  will  you  have  the  real 
power  of  moulding  and  of  moving  men.  If  you 
use  merely  your  physical  agents,  you  will  be  simply 
a  demagogue.  If  you  open  yourself  so  that  the 
voice  of  God  can  speak  through  and  use  your 
physical  agents,  you  will  become  a  great  and  true 
orator,  great  and  true  in  just  the  degree  that  you 
so  open  yourself. 

Are  you  a  singer?  Then  open  yourself  and  let 
the  God  within  pour  forth  in  the  spirit  of  song. 
You  will  find  it  a  thousand  times  easier  than  all 


g6  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

your  long  and  studied  practice  without  this,  and 
other  things  being  equal,  there  will  come  to  you  a 
power  of  song  so  enchanting  and  so  enrapturing 
that  its  influence  upon  all  who  hear  will  be  irre- 
sistible. 

When  my  cabin  or  tent  has  been  pitched  during 
the  summer  on  the  edge  or  in  the  midst  of  a  forest, 
I  have  sometimes  lain  awake  on  my  cot  in  the 
early  morning,  just  as  the  day  was  beginning  to 
break.  Silence  at  first.  Then  an  intermittent 
chirp  here  and  there.  And  as  the  unfolding  tints 
of  the  dawn  became  faintly  perceptible,  these  grew 
more  and  more  frequent,  until  by  and  by  the  whole 
forest  seemed  to  burst  forth  in  one  grand  chorus 
of  song.  Wonderful!  wonderful!  It  seemed  as  if 
the  very  trees,  as  if  every  grass-blade,  as  if  the 
bushes,  the  very  sky  above,  and  the  earth  beneath, 
had  part  in  this  wonderful  symphony.  Then,  as  I 
have  listened  as  it  went  on  and  on,  I  have  thought, 
What  a  study  in  the  matter  of  song!  If  we  could 
but  learn  from  the  birds.  If  we  could  but  open 
ourselves  to  the  same  powers  and  allow  them  to 
pour  forth  in  us,  what  singers,  what  movers  of 
men  we  might  have !  Nay,  what  singers  and  what 
movers  of  men  we  would  have! 

When  we  open  ourselves  to  the  highest  inspira- 
tions they  never  fail  us.  When  we  fail  to  do  this 
we  fail  in  attaining  the  highest  results,  whatever 
the  undertaking. 


The  Secret  of  the  Highest  Power  97 

Are  you  a  writer?  Then  remember  that  the  one 
great  precept  underlying  all  successful  literary 
work  is,  Look  into  thine  own  heart  and  write. 
Be  true.  Be  fearless.  Be  loyal  to  the  promptings 
of  your  own  soul.  Remember  that  an  author  can 
never  write  more  than  he  himself  is.  If  he  would 
write  more,  then  he  must  be  more.  He  is  simply 
his  own  amanuensis.  He  in  a  sense  writes  himself 
into  his  book.  He  can  put  no  more  into  it  than 
he  himself  is. 

If  he  is  one  of  a  great  personality,  strong  in  pur- 
pose, deep  in  feeling,  open  always  to  the  highest 
inspirations,  a  certain  indefinable  something  gets 
into  his  pages  that  makes  them  breathe  forth  a 
vital,  living  power,  a  power  so  great  that  each 
reader  gets  the  same  inspirations  as  those  that 
spoke  through  the  author.  That  that's  written  be- 
tween the  lines  is  many  times  more  than  that  that's 
written  in  the  lines.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  author 
that  engenders  this  power. 

The  one,  on  the  other  hand,  who  fears  to  de- 
part from  beaten  paths,  who  allows  himself  to  be 
bound  by  arbitrary  rules,  limits  his  own  creative 
powers  in  just  the  degree  that  he  allows  himself 
so  to  be  bound.  "  My  book,"  says  one  of  the 'great- 
est of  modern  authors,  "  shall  smell  of  the  pines 
and  resound  with  the  hum  of  insects.  The  swallow 
over  my  window  shall  interweave  that  thread  or 
straw  he  carries  in  his  bill  into  my  web  also."    Far 


98  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

better,  gentle  sage,  to  have  it  smell  of  the  pines 
and  resound  with  the  hum  of  insects  than  to  have 
it  sound  of  the  rules  that  a  smaller  type  of  man 
gets  by  studying  the  works  of  a  few  great,  fear- 
less writers  like  yourself,  and  formulating  from 
what  he  thus  gains  a  handbook  of  rhetoric.  "  Of 
no  use  are  the  men  who  study  to  do  exactly  as  was 
done  before,  who  can  never  understand  that  to-day 
is  a  new  day" 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXX. 

WISDOM:  OR  INTERIOR  ILLUMINATION. 

In  order  for  the  highest  wisdom  and  insight  we 
must  have  absolute  confidence  in  the  Divine  guid- 
ing us,  but  not  through  the  channel  of  some  one 
else.  And  why  should  we  go  to  another  for  knowl- 
edge and  wisdom?  With  God  is  no  respect  of 
persons.  Why  should  we  seek  these  things  second 
hand  ?  Why  should  we  thus  stultify  our  own  innate 
powers?  Why  should  we  not  go  direct  to  the  In- 
finite Source  itself  ?  "  If  any  man  lack  wisdom  let 
him  ask  of  God."  "  Before  they  call  I  will  answer, 
and  while  they  are  yet  speaking,  I  will  hear." 

When  we  thus  go  directly  to  the  Infinite  Source 
itself  we  are  no  longer  slaves  to  personalities,  in- 
stitutions, or  books.  We  should  always  keep  our- 
selves open  to  suggestions  of  truth  from  these  agen- 
cies. We  should  always  regard  them  as  agencies, 
however,  and  never  as  sources.  We  should  never 
recognize  them  as  masters,  but  simply  as  teachers. 
With  Browning,  we  must  recognize  the  great  fact 
that— 

"Truth  is  within  ourselves;  it  takes  no  rise 
From  outward  things,  whate'er  you  may  believe. 
There  is  an  inmost  centre  in  us  all, 
Where  truth  abides  in  fullness." 


ioo  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

There  is  no  more  important  injunction  in  all  the 
world,  nor  one  with  a  deeper  interior  meaning,  than 
"  To  thine  own  self  be  true."  In  other  words,  be 
true  to  your  own  soul,  for  it  is  through  your  own 
soul  that  the  voice  of  God  speaks  to  you.  This  is 
the  interior  guide.  This  is  the  light  that  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world.  This  is 
conscience.  This  is  intuition.  This  is  the  voice  of 
the  higher  self,  the  voice  of  the  soul,  the  voice  of 
God.  "  Thou  shalt  hear  a  voice  behind  thee,  say- 
ing :  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it." 

When  Elijah  was  on  the  mountain  it  was  after 
the  various  physical  commotions  and  manifesta- 
tions that  he  heard  the  "  still,  small  voice,"  the 
voice  of  his  own  soul,  through  which  the  Infinite 
God  was  speaking.  If  we  will  but  follow  this  voice 
of  intuition,  it  will  speak  ever  more  clearly  and  more 
plainly,  until  by  and  by  it  will  be  absolute  and  un- 
erring in  its  guidance.  The  great  trouble  with  us 
is  that  we  do  not  listen  to  and  do  not  follow  this 
voice  within  our  own  souls,  and  so  we  become  as 
a  house  divided  against  itself.  We  are  pulled  this 
way  and  that,  and  we  are  never  certain  of  anything. 
I  have  a  friend  who  listens  so  carefully  to  this 
inner  voice,  who,  in  other  words,  always  acts  so 
quickly  and  so  fully  in  accordance  with  his  intu- 
itions, and  whose  life  as  a  consequence  is  so  abso- 
lutely guided  by  them,  that  he  always  does  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way. 
He  always  knows  when  to  act  and  how  to  act,  and 


Wisdom:    Or  Interior  Illumination        ioi 

he  is  never   in  the   condition   of  a   house  divided 
against  itself. 

But  some  one  says,  "  May  it  not  be  dangerous  for 
us  to  act  always  upon  our  intuitions  ?  Suppose  we 
should  have  an  intuition  to  do  harm  to  some  one  ?  " 
We  need  not  be  afraid  of  this,  however,  for  the 
voice  of  the  soul,  this  voice  of  God  speaking 
through  the  soul,  will  never  direct  one  to  do  harm 
to  another,  nor  to  do  anything  that  is  not  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  highest  standards  of  right,  and 
truth,  and  justice.  And  if  you  at  any  time  have  a 
prompting  of  this  kind,  know  that  it  is  not  the  voice 
of  intuition ;  it  is  some  characteristic  of  your  lower 
self  that  is  prompting  you. 

Reason  is  not  to  be  set  aside,  but  it  is  to  be  con- 
tinually illumined  by  this  higher  spiritual  percep- 
tion, and  in  the  degree  that  it  is  thus  illumined  will 
it  become  ah  agent  of  light  and  power.  When  one 
becomes  thoroughly  individualized  he  enters  into 
the  realm  of  all  knowledge  and  wisdom;  and  to 
be  individualized  is  to  recognize  no  power  outside 
of  the  Infinite  Power  that  is  back  of  all.  When 
one  recognizes  this  great  fact  and  opens  himself 
to  this  Spirit  of  Infinite  Wisdom,  he  then  enters 
upon  the  road  to  the  true  education,  and  mysteries 
that  before  were  closed  now  reveal  themselves  to 
him.  This  must  indeed  be  the  foundation  of  all 
true  education,  this  evolving  from  within,  this 
evolving  of  what  has  been  involved  by  the  In- 
finite Power. 


102  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

There  are  no  new  stars,  there  are  no  new  laws 
or  forces,  but  we  can  so  open  ourselves  to  this 
Spirit  of  Infinite  Wisdom  that  we  can  discover 
and  recognize  those  that  have  not  been  known  be- 
fore; and   in  this   way  they  become   new  to   us. 

"  This  is  true  wisdom.  Wisdom  is  the  knowledge 
of  God."  Wisdom  comes  by  intuition.  It  far  trans- 
cends knowledge.  Great  knowledge,  knowledge  of 
many  things,  may  be  had  by  virtue  simply  of  a  very 
retentive  memory.  It  comes  by  tuition.  But  wis- 
dom far  transcends  knowledge,  in  that  knowledge 
is  a  mere  incident  of  this  deeper  wisdom. 

In  Tune  zvith  the  Infinite. 


XXXI. 

LET  THERE  BE  MANY  WINDOWS  IN 
YOUR   SOUL. 

He  who  would  enter  into  the  realm  of  wisdom 
must  first  divest  himself  of  all  intellectual  pride. 
He  must  become  as  a  little  child.  Prejudices,  pre- 
conceived opinions,  and  beliefs  always  stand  in  the 
way  of  true  wisdom.  Conceited  opinions  are  always 
suicidal  in  their  influences.  They  bar  the  door  to 
the  entrance  of  truth. 

All  about  us  we  see  men  in  the  religious  world, 
in  the  world  of  science,  in  the  political,  in  the  so- 
cial world,  who  through  intellectual  pride  are  so 
wrapped  in  their  own  conceits  and  prejudices  that 
larger  and  later  revelations  of  truth  can  find  no  en- 
trance to  them ;  and  instead  of  growing  and  expand- 
ing, they  are  becoming  dwarfed  and  stunted,  and 
still  more  incapable  of  receiving  truth.  Instead  of 
actively  aiding  in  the  progress  of  the  world,  they 
&re  as  so  many  dead  sticks  in  the  way  that  would 
retard  the  wheels  of  progress.  This,  however,  they 
can  never  do.  Such  always  in  time  get  bruised, 
broken,  and  left  behind,  while  God's  triumphal  car 
of  truth  moves  steadily  onward. 

When  the  steam  engine  was  still  being  experi- 
mented with,  and  before  it  was  perfected  sufficiently 


104  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

to  come  into  practical  use,  a  well-known  English- 
man— well  known  then  in  scientific  circles — wrote 
an  extended  pamphlet  proving  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  it  ever  to  be  used  in  ocean  navigation, 
that  is,  in  a  trip  involving  the  crossing  of  the  ocean, 
because  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  any  ves- 
sel to  carry  with  it  sufficient  coal  for  the  use  of  its 
furnace.  And  the  interesting  feature  of  the  whole 
matter  was  that  the  very  first  steam  vessel  that  made 
the  trip  from  England  to  America,  had  among  its 
cargo  a  part  of  the  first  edition  of  this  carefully  pre- 
pared pamphlet.  There  was  only  the  one  edition. 
Many  editions  might  be  sold  now. 

This  seems  indeed  an  amusing  fact ;  but  far  more 
amusing  is  the  man  who  voluntarily  closes  himself 
to  truth  because,  forsooth,  it  does  not  come  through 
conventional,  or  orthodox,  or  heretofore  accepted 
channels;  or  because  it  may  not  be  in  full  accord 
with,  or  possibly  may  be  opposed  to,  established 
Usages  or  beliefs.    On  the  contrary — 

"Let  there  be  many  windows  in  your  soul, 
That  all  the  glory  of  the  universe 
May  beautify  it.     Not  the  narrow  pane 
Of  one  poor  creed  can  catch  the  radiant  rays 
That  shine  from  countless  sources.     Tear  away 
The  blinds  of  superstition :  let  the  light 
Pour  through  fair  windows,  broad  as  truth  itself 
And  high  as  heaven.  .  .  .  Tune  your  ear 
To  all  the  wordless  music  of  the  stars 
And  to  the  voice  of  nature,  and  your  heart 
Shall  turn  to  truth  and  goodness  as  the  plant 
Turns  to  the  sun.     A  thousand  unseen  hands 


Let  there  be   Windoivs  in    Your  Soul     105 

Reach  down  to  help  you  to  their  peace-crowned  heights, 

And  all  the  forces  of  the  firmament 

Shall  fortify  your  strength.     Be  not  afraid 

To  thrust  aside  half-truths  and  grasp  the  whole." 

There  is  a  great  law  in  connection  with  the  com- 
ing of  truth.  It  is  this:  Whenever  a  man  or  a 
woman  shuts  himself  or  herself  to  the  entrance  of 
truth  on  account  of  intellectual  pride,  preconceived 
opinions,  prejudices,  or  for  whatever  reason,  there 
is  a  great  law  which  says  that  truth  in  its  fullness 
will  come  to  that  one  from  no  source.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  when  a  man  or  a  woman  opens  himself 
or  herself  fully  to  the  entrance  of  truth  from  what- 
ever source  it  may  come,  there  is  an  equally  great 
law  which  says  that  truth  will  flow  in  to  him  or  to 
her  from  all  sources,  from  all  quarters.  Such  be- 
comes the  free  man,  the  free  woman,  for  it  is  the 
truth  that  makes  us  free.  The  other  remains  in 
bondage,  for  truth  has  had  no  invitation  and  will 
not  enter  where  it  is  not  fully  and  freely  welcomed. 

And  where  truth  is  denied  entrance  the  rich  bless- 
ings it  carries  with  it  cannot  take  up  their  abode. 
On  the  contrary,  when  this  is  the  case,  it  sends  an 
envoy  carrying  with  it  atrophy,  disease,  death,  physi- 
cally and  spiritually  as  well  as  intellectually.  And 
the  man  who  would  rob  another  of  his  free  and  un- 
fettered search  for  truth,  who  would  stand  as  the 
interpreter  of  truth  for  another,  with  the  intent  of 
remaining  in  this  position,  rather  than  endeavoring 
to  lead  him  to  the  place  where  he  can  be  his  own 


106  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

interpreter,  is  more  to  be  shunned  than  a  thief  and 
a  robber.  The  injury  he  works  is  far  greater,  for 
he  is  doing  direct  and  positive  injury  to  the  very 
life  of  the  one  he  thus  holds. 

Who  has  ever  appointed  any  man,  whoever  he 
may  be,  as  the  keeper,  the  custodian,  the  dispenser 
of  God's  illimitable  truth  ?  Many  indeed  are  moved 
and  so  are  called  to  be  teachers  of  truth ;  but  the 
true  teacher  will  never  stand  as  the  interpreter  of 
truth  for  another.  The  true  teacher  is  the  one 
whose  endeavor  is  to  bring  the  one  he  teaches  to 
a  true  knowledge  of  himself  and  hence  of  his  own 
interior  powers,  that  he  may  become  his  own  in- 
terpreter. All  others  are,  generally  speaking, 
those  animated  by  purely  personal  motives,  self-ag- 
grandizement, or  personal  gain.  Moreover,  he  who 
would  claim  to  have  all  truth  and  the  only  truth, 
is  a  bigot,  a  fool,  or  a  knave. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXXII. 

AS   TO  THE  QUALITY  OF   OUR  EDUCA- 
TION. 

Every  child  in  school  until  a  certain  age  or  until  a 
sufficient  equipment  to  meet  the  ordinary  duties  of 
life  is  reached,  should  be  the  nation's  motto. 

It  is  also  eminently  fitting  that  something  be  said 
of  the  quality  of  the  education  it  is  proposed  to 
make  compulsory  attendance  upon  universal.  To 
come  at  once  to  the  point  in  mind  and  briefly — 
training  of  the  intellect  alone  is  not  sufficient;  we 
shall  remain  a  long  way  oft*  from  the  ideal  until 
we  make  moral,  humane,  heart-training  a  far  more 
important  feature  of  our  educational  systems  than 
we  have  made  it  thus  far.  We  are  advancing  in 
this  respect,  but  we  have  great  advances  yet  to 
make.  Kindness  and  consideration,  sympathy  and 
fraternity,  love  of  justice — the  full  and  ready  will- 
ingness to  give  it  as  well  as  to  demand  it,  the  clear- 
cut  comprehension  of  the  majesty  and  beauty  that 
escapes  into  the  life  of  the  individual  as  he  under- 
stands and  appropriates  to  himself  the  all-embrac- 
ing contents  of  the  golden  rule.  The  training  of 
the  intellect  alone  at  the  expense  of  the  "  human- 
ities "  has  made  or  has  enlarged  the  power  of  many 
a  criminal,  many  a  usurper  of  other  men's  homes 


108  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

and  property,  many  an  oppressor,  and  has  thereby 
added  poison  and  desolation  to  his  own  life  as  well 
as  to  the  lives  of  those  with  whom  he  has  come  in 
contact  and  who  have  felt  his  blighting  and  wither- 
ing influence.  It  is  also  chiefly  from  those  without 
this  training,  that  that  great  body  of  our  fellow-crea- 
tures which  we  term  the  animal  world,  receive  their 
most  thoughtless  and  cruel  treatment,  and  perhaps 
from  among  none  more  than  among  the  rich  and 
fashionable. 

I  think  there  is  another  feature  in  our  educational 
systems  that  we  would  do  wisely  to  give  more  at- 
tention to.  In  a  nation  of  free  institutions,  more 
attention  could  wisely  be  given  to  systematic  and 
concrete  instruction  in  connection  with  the  insti- 
tutions of  government,  and  in  connection  with  this 
a  training  in  civic  pride  that  sees  to  it  that  our 
public  offices  are  filled  with  men  of  at  least  ordinary 
honesty  and  integrity,  men  who  regard  public  office 
as  a  public  trust  worthy  the  service  of  their  high- 
est manhood,  rather  than  with  those  whose  eye  is 
single  to  the  largest  amount  of  loot  and  graft  that 
comes  within  the  range  of  their  vision  and  the  reach 
of  their  hand.  Such  a  system  would  in  time  spell 
the  end  of  Tammany  Hall — a  Democratic  organiza- 
tion in  New  York  City,  whose  chief  object  is  to 
make  politics  a  cover  to  divert  the  largest  possible 
sums  of  money  from  the  people  of  the  City  of  New 
York  to  line  the  pockets,  and  in  great  abundance, 
of  those  in  control  of  the  body  of  loot.     It  would 


As  to  the  Quality  of  our  Education      109 

in  time  spell  the  end  of  the  Republican  rings  and 
HalJs  whose  object  and  purpose  is  identically  the 
same  in  every  city  where  they  have  been  able  to 
gain  control,  as  well  as  the  Democratic  rings  in 
cities  other  than  New  York.  The  methods  of  the 
rings  of  the  one  are  equally  black  with  the  methods 
of  the  rings  of  the  other;  where  the  motives  are 
the  same  the  resultant  action  is  the  same. 

Our  educational  methods  are  developing.  In  edu- 
cational work  are  some  of  our  noblest,  our  fore- 
most men  and  women.  There  is  an  element  of  the 
practical,  the  useful,  that  is  now  sort  of  remodelling 
our  earlier  methods.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me 
that  not  only  in  our  public  schools  but  in  our  col- 
leges and  universities,  it  is  possible  to  get  as  great 
a  degree  of  training  from  branches  that  are  in  them- 
selves useful,  that  will  be  of  actual  use  later  on, 
as  out  of  those  that  are  used  for  their  training  value 
only.  The  element  of  the  useful,  not  at  the  expense 
of  the  training,  but  combined  with  it,  should  be, 
I  think,  and  is  coming  to  be,  the  marked  feature  of 
our  developing  educational  methods. 

The  bread  and  butter  problem  will  be  the  prob- 
lem of  practically  all  in  our  common  or  public 
schools  to-day.  There  probably  will  not  be  one  in 
a  thousand  whose  problem  it  will  not  be.  To  make 
our  educational  systems  so  that  they  will  be  of  the 
greatest  practical  aid  to  all  as  they  enter  upon  life's 
activities  should,  it  seems  to  me,  be  one  of  our  great- 
est aims.    That  our  college  courses  can  be  improved 


1 10  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

to  at  least  from  twenty  to  forty  per  cent  along  this 
same  line  I  am  fully  persuaded,  in  addition  to  the 
saving  of  considerable  valuable  time  for  those  who, 
contemplating  professional  careers,  will  afterwards 
have  to  spend  a  considerable  period  in  years  in 
professional  schools. 

When  we  consider  that  not  more  than  one-tenth 
of  one  per  cent  of  those  in  our  common  schools  ever 
get  as  far  as  the  college  or  university,  we  can  see 
how  important  it  is  that  every  child  be  guaranteed 
what  the  law  of  the  most  ordinary  justice  demands, 
that  he  or  she  have  the  benefit  at  least  of  what  will 
enable  him  or  her  to  enter  upon  the  stage  of  young 
manhood  and  young  womanhood  free  from  the 
tremendous  handicaps  with  which  so  many  are  en- 
tering upon  it  to-day. 

In  the  Fire  of  the  Heart. 


XXXIII. 
A  NEW  ORDER  OF  PATRIOTISM. 

A  new  order  of  patriotism  is  coming  into  being 
and  among  us.  What  was  at  one  time  confined  to 
the  few  brave,  independent,  advanced  men,  is  now 
becoming  common  among  the  people.  We  are  find- 
ing that  the  elements  of  justice  and  righteousness, 
fraternity  and  godliness,  have  a  very  direct  relation 
to,  or  rather,  that  patriotism  has  a  very  direct  re- 
lation to  them.  War — war  and  the  flag,  were  at  one 
time  supposed  to  be  the  only  agents  with  which 
patriotism  was  linked.  To  hurrah  for  the  flag  and 
to  be  eager  to  go  to  the  front,  when  the  war  bugles 
sounded,  or  were  likely  to  sound,  was  for  a  long 
period  a  prevailing  idea  of  patriotism.  It  may  still 
be  a  way  in  which  patriotism  may  be  manifested. 

The  people  are  learning  the  real  cause  of  many 
wars,  indeed  the  great  majority  of  them — the  bull- 
headedness  or  pig-headedness,  the  incapacity  on  the 
part  of  those  having  to  do  with  affairs ;  and  again, 
the  throwing  of  an  entire  nation  into  war  by  large 
and  powerful  though  unscrupulous  financial  inter- 
ests solely  for  gain.  These  two  agents  are  responsi- 
ble for  the  great  bulk,  indeed  for  nine  out  of  every 
ten,  of  all  modern  wars,  even  as  they  have  been 
for  all  time  past.    Men  are  beginning  to  realize  that 


H2  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

instead  of  having  anything  to  do  with  this  type  of 
war,  patriotism  lies  in  refusing  absolutely  to  aid  or 
abet  it  and  in  using  one's  influence  in  a  similar  way 
among  one's  neighbours  more  blunt  and  with  less 
power  of  discernment.  When  we  reach  a  point 
where  the  large  body  of  citizens  see  to  it  that  these 
men  and  their  agents — for  the  large  financial  in- 
terests of  the  unscrupulous  type  almost  invariably 
work  through  agents  many  of  whom  they  place  or 
have  the  people  place  in  public*  positions — when,  I 
repeat,  the  larger  body  of  citizens  see  to  it  that 
these  men  and  their  agents  are  kept  out  of  public 
office  and  relegate  them  to  the  subordinate  place 
where  they  rightly  belong,  then  we  will  witness  the 
full  birth  of  an  entirely  new  and  a  higher  order  of 
patriotism  that  is  soon  to  be  dominant  among  us. 

The  highest  patriotism  that  I  know  is  that  which 
impels  a  man  to  be  honest,  kind,  hence  thoughtful 
in  all  his  business  relations  and  in  his  daily  life; 
that  impels  him  to  the  primary  and  to  give  attention 
to  those  features  of  our  political  institutions  that 
are  of  even  greater  consequence  than  his  casting 
his  vote  on  election  day ;  that  impels  him  to  think 
and  to  be  discriminating  in  his  thought;  that  en- 
ables him  to  be  not  afraid  to  point  out  and  denounce 
the  pure  self-seeker  and  his  demagogic  ways,  be 
he  in  public  life,  in  the  ranks  of  high  standing  finan- 
ciers, or  in  the  ranks  of  organized  labour,  or  in 
the  ranks  of  the  common  life. 

It  is  this  patriotism  in  the  common  life  that  is 


A  New  Order  of  Patriotism  113 

of  the  high  quality.  Men  who  arc  industrious  and 
honest  in  their  work;  who  are  faithful  to  whatever 
tasks  are  imposed  upon  them ;  who  are  as  eager  to 
give  justice  as  to  demand  it ;  who  are  working  in- 
dustriously and  intelligently  in  order  to  take  care 
of  themselves  and  those  dependent  upon  them,  and 
thus  remain  self-supporting  members  of  the  com- 
munity; who  remain  brave  and  sweet  in  their  na- 
tures and  who  abide  always  in  faith  in  face  of  the 
hard  or  uncertain  times  that  come  at  some  time  or 
another  and  in  some  form  or  another  into  the  lives 
of  everyone  of  us;  who  are  jealous  of  their  coun- 
try's honour,  and  of  the  administration  of  its  in- 
ternal affairs,  for  in  the  life  of  the  nation  as  in  the 
life  of  the  individual,  all  life  is  from  within  out, 
and  as  is  the  inner  so  always  will  be  the  outer. 
These,  I  repeat,  are  the  men  and  these  are  the  con- 
ditions that  are  giving  birth  to  that  new  and  that 
higher  order  of  patriotism  that  is  now  coming 
among  us,  and  that  is  to  take  captive  the  hearts  of 
men. 

That  wars  in  the  past  have  been,  and  even  at  the 
present  time  are  too  frequent,  all  thinking  men  and 
women  are  agreed.  That  they  are  in  the  great  ma- 
jority of  cases  entirely  inexcusable,  and  that  there 
is  and  should  be  very  little  use  for  military  forces 
if  any,  outside  of  purposes  of  defence,  the  highest 
and  most  intelligent  portion  of  our  citizenship 
thoroughly  believes.  And  so  far  as  effectiveness  is 
concerned  it  has  been  proven  time  and  again,  that 


114  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

a  citizen  soldiery  is  the  finest  in  the  world.  Neither 
vast  bodies  of  men  drawn  off  from  creative  and  pro- 
ductive enterprises  and  made  into  a  professional 
soldier  class,  nor  bodies  of  hirelings,  but  men  who 
are  citizens  of  intelligence  and  training,  and  who 
stand  with  the  ear  ready  for  the  call  to  arms  when 
there  is  just  cause  for  their  hearing  this  call,  such 
are  the  intelligent,  such  are  the  brave  and  the  dar- 
ing, such  are  the  most  effective.  Men  will  not  fight 
effectively  for  the  little  price  in  money  they  are 
paid.  They  will  not  fight  effectively  for  the  glory 
of  another,  nor  will  they  fight  effectively  for  a  mere 
tract  of  land.  But  where  homes  are  and  institu- 
tions that  they  love  and  revere  and  care  for,  then 
men  will  fight  with  all  that  triumphant  intelligence 
and  all  that  indomitable  daring  that  it  is  possible 
to  call  forth.  With  a  citizen  soldiery  ready  at  the 
just  moment  to  come  from  the  mine,  the  mill,  the 
counting-house,  the  farm,  thousands  of  thousands 
or  millions  strong,  why  should  there  be  a  vast  pro- 
fessional soldiery,  a'  great  non-producing  class  kept 
primarily  for  the  glory  and  to  do  the  bidding  of  a 
ruling  class,  but  supported  almost  entirely  by  the 
great  common  people,  that  is  true  of  the  foolhardy 
military  systems  of  various  European  countries 
to-day  ? 

So  far  then  as  the  soldiery  of  a  nation  is  con- 
cerned, let  the  interests  of  all  the  people  be  equally 
taken  care  of,  let  there  be  institutions  founded  upon 
justice,  upon  equal  opportunities  for  all  and  special 


A  New  Order  of  Patriotism  1 1 5 

privileges  for  no  man,  let  there  be  homes  and  senti- 
ment encircling  these  homes,  and  the  keeping  up 
of  a  large  military  system  becomes  but  a  fool's 
dream.  There  will  come  from  such  a  people  a  citi- 
zen soldiery  more  intelligent,  more  brave  and  de- 
termined, and  therefore  more  effective,  than  can 
ever  come  from  any  professional  fighting  class,  and 
at  a  cost  not  a  hundredth  part  as  great. 

Take  sentiment  from  the  battle-field  and  you  take 
its  chief  source  of  heroism  away.  The  people  of 
homes  and  of  just  institutions  are  a  people  of  senti- 
ment. Upon  every  cartridge-box  and  upon  every 
rifle  and  upon  every  field  piece  of  such  a  soldiery 
the  word  "  Invincible "  could  most  rightly  be 
stamped. 

In  the  Fire  of  the  Heart. 


XXXIV. 

MEN  OF  EXCEPTIONAL  EXECUTIVE  AND 
FINANCIAL   ABILITY. 

The  great  nation  is,  again,  the  nation  in  which 
the  man  of  great  natural  executive  or  financial  abil- 
ity finds  contentment  in  a  smaller  amount  of  pos- 
sessions for  himself,  and  the  larger  contentment  and 
satisfaction  and  joy  in  using  that  unusual  ability 
in  the  service  of,  for  the  benefit  of,  his  city,  his 
state,  the  nation.  The  wonder  is  that  more  are  not 
doing  this  already.  What  an  influence  a  few  such 
men  could  have,  what  results  they  could  accomplish, 
what  real  riches  they  could  bring  into  their  lives 
through  the  riches  they  would  bring  into  the  lives 
of  multitudes — What  gratitude  would  go  to  them! 

As  men  continue  to  see  the  small  satisfaction  there 
is  in  the  possession  of  great  ability  of  this  nature, 
and  in  the  possession  of  great  wealth  when  di- 
vorced from  an  adequate  or  even  from  an  abundant 
connection  with  the  interests  and  the  welfare  of 
their  fellow-men,  and  as  they  catch  the  undying 
truth  of  the  great  law  of  life  as  enunciated  by  One 
who  though  He  had  not  even  where  to  lay  His 
head  was  greater  than  them  all — He  that  is  great- 
est among  you  shall  be  your  servant — then  they 
in  company  with  all  men  will  be  the  gainers.    Think 


Executive  and  Financial  Ability         117 

what  could  be  accomplished  in  the  nation  along  the 
lines  we  have  been  considering  in  this  little  volume 
by  a  company  of  such  men  devoted  to  such  ends. 
A  change  is  coming  and  very  rapidly.  The  time  has 
already  arrived  when  we  will  no  longer  look  upon 
the  possession  of  mere  wealth  or  the  ability  to  get 
it  as  deserving  of  any  special  distinction,  and  es- 
pecially when  the  means  adopted  in  its  acquirement 
are  other  than  those  of  absolute  honour  and  recti- 
tude. 

How  significant  are  the  following  observations 

from  the  Outlook: 

"Those  who  have  fallen  most  completely  under  the  spell 
of  fortune-hunting,  and  have  been  consumed  by  the  fever 
of  a  pursuit  which  dries  up  the  very  sources  of  spiritual  life, 
can  no  longer  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  when  great  wealth 
ceases  to  be  associated  with  character,  honour,  genius,  or 
public  respect,  it  is  a  very  shabby  substitute  for  the  thing 
men  once  held  it  to  be .     There  are  hosts  of  honourable  men 
of  wealth,  and  there  are  large  fortunes  which  have  been 
honourably  made;  but  so  much  brutal  indifference  to  the 
rights  of  others,  so  much  tyrannical  use  of  power,  so  much 
arbitrary  employment  of  privilege  without  a  touch  of 
genius,  so  much  cynical  indifference  to  human  ties  of  all 
kinds,  so  much  vulgar  greed,  have  come  to  light,  .  .  .  that 
the  lustre  has  very  largely  gone  and  wealth,  as  a  supreme 
prize  of  life,  has  immensely  lost  in  attractive  power.    There 
are  hosts  of  young  men  who  are  ambitious  to  be  rich,  but 
who  are  not  willing  to  accept  wealth  on  such  terms;  the 
price  is  too  great,  the  bargain  too  hard." 

Men  of  exceptional  executive  and  financial  abil- 
ity, raise  yourselves  to  the  standing-point  of  real 
greatness  and  use  these  abilities  to  noble  purposes 


n8  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

and  to  undying  ends  instead  of  piling  a  heap  of 
things  together  that  you'll  soon  have  to  leave  and 
that  may  do  those  to  whom  it  will  go  more  harm 
than  good.  The  times  are  changing,  mankind  is 
advancing  and  ascending  to  higher  standing  places, 
and  it  will  be  but  a  short  time  when  your  position 
if  maintained  as  at  present  will  be  a  very  ordinary 
one  or  even  a  very  low  one  in  the  public  esteem — 
and  so  will  be  your  memories. 

The  Bishop  of  Exeter  voices  a  well-nigh  universal 
human  cry  at  present  when  he  says: 

Give  us  men! 
Strong  and  stalwart  ones: 
Men  whom  highest  hope  inspires, 
Men  whom  purest  honour  fires, 
Men  who  trample  Self  beneath  them, 
Men  who  make  their  country  wreathe  them 
As  her  noble  sons, 
Worthy  of  their  sires, 
Men  who  never  shame  their  mothers, 
Men  who  never  fail  their  brothers, 
True,  however  false  are  others: 
Give  us  Men — I  say  again, 
Give  us  Men! 

In  the  Fire  of  the  Heart. 


XXXV. 

AN  EXAMPLE— A  VERY  YOUNG  OLD 
LADY. 

A  close  observer,  a  careful  student  of  the  power 
of  the  thought  forces,  will  soon  be  able  to  read  in 
the  voice,  in  the  movements,  in  the  features,  the 
effects  registered  by  the  prevailing  mental  states 
and  conditions.  Or,  if  he  is  told  the  prevailing  men- 
tal states  and  conditions,  he  can  describe  the  voice, 
the  movements,  the  features,  as  well  as  describe,  in 
a  general  way,  the  peculiar  physical  ailments  their 
possessor  is  heir  to. 

There  comes  to  mind  at  this  moment  a  friend,  a 
lady  well  on  to  eighty  years  of  age.  An  old  lady, 
some,  most  people  in  fact,  would  call  her,  especially 
those  who  measure  age  by  the  number  of  the  sea- 
sons that  have  come  and  gone  since  one's  birth. 
But  to  call  our  friend  old,  would  be  to  call  black 
white.  She  is  no  older  than  a  girl  of  twenty-five, 
and  indeed  younger,  I  am  glad  to  say,  or  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  depending  upon  the  point  of  view, 
than  many  a  girl  of  this  age.  Seeking  for  the  good 
in  all  people  and  in  all  things,  she  has  found  the 
good  everywhere.  The  brightness  of  disposition 
and  of  voice  that  is  hers  to-day,  that  attracts  all 
people  to  her  and  that  makes  her  so  beautifully 


120  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

attractive  to  all  people,  has  characterized  her  all 
through  life.  It  has  in  turn  carried  brightness  and 
hope  and  courage  and  strength  to  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  people  through  all  these  years,  and 
will  continue  to  do  so,  apparently,  for  many  years 
yet  to  come. 

No  fears,  no  worryings,  no  hatreds,  no  jealousies, 
no  sorrowings,  no  grievings,  no  sordid  graspings 
after  inordinate  gain,  have  found  entrance  into  her 
realm  of  thought.  As  a  consequence  her  mind,  free 
from  these  abnormal  states  and  conditions,  has  not 
externalized  in  her  body  the  various  physical  ail- 
ments that  the  great  majority  of  people  are  lugging 
about  with  them,  thinking  in  their  ignorance,  that 
they  are  natural,  and  that  it  is  all  in  accordance 
with  the  "  eternal  order  of  things  "  that  they  should 
have  them.  Her  life  has  been  one  of  varied  experi- 
ences, so  that  all  these  things  would  have  found 
ready  entrance  into  the  realm  of  her  mind  and  so 
into  her  life  were  she  ignorant  enough  to  allow 
them  entrance.  On  the  contrary  she  has  been  wise 
enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  in  one  kingdom 
at  least  she  is  ruler, — the  kingdom  of  her  mind,  and 
that  it  is  hers  to  dictate  as  to  what  shall  and  what 
shall  not  enter  there.  She  knows,  moreover,  that  in 
determining  this  she  is  determining  all  the  condi- 
tions of  her  life.  It  is  indeed  a  pleasure  as  well  as 
an  inspiration  to  see  her  as  she  goes  here  and  there, 
to  see  her  sunny  disposition,  her  youthful  step,  to 
hear  her  joyous  laughter.     Indeed   and   in   truth, 


An  Example— A    Very   Young  Old  Lady    121 

Shakespeare  knew  whereof  he  spoke  when  he  said, 
— "  It  is  the  mind  that  makes  the  body  rich." 

With  great  pleasure  I  watched  her  but  recently 
as  she  was  walking  along  the  street,  stopping  to  have 
a  word  and  so  a  part  in  the  lives  of  a  group  of 
children  at  play  by  the  wayside,  hastening  her  step 
a  little  to  have  a  word  with  a  washerwoman  toting 
her  bundle  of  clothes,  stopping  for  a  word  with  a 
laboring  man  returning  with  dinner  pail  in  hand 
from  his  work,  returning  the  recognition  from  the 
lady  in  her  carriage,  and  so  imparting  some  of  her 
own  rich  life  to  all  with  whom  she  came  in  contact. 

And  as  good  fortune  would  have  it,  while  still 
watching  her,  an  old  lady  passed  her, — really  old, 
this  one,  though  at  least  ten  or  fifteen  years  younger, 
so  far  as  the  count  by  the  seasons  is  concerned. 
Nevertheless  she  was  bent  in  form  and  apparently 
stiff  in  joint  and  muscle.  Silent  in  mood,  she  wore 
a  countenance  of  long-faced  sadness,  which  was  in- 
tensified surely  several  fold  by  a  black,  sombre  head- 
gear with  an  immense  heavy  veil  still  more  sombre 
looking  if  possible.  Her  entire  dress  was  of  this 
description.  By  this  relic-of-barbarism  garb,  com- 
bined with  her  own  mood  and  expression,  she  con- 
tinually proclaimed  to  the  world  two  things, — her 
own  personal  sorrows  and  woes,  which  by  this  very 
method  she  kept  continually  fresh  in  her  mind,  and 
also  her  lack  of  faith  in  the  eternal  goodness  of 
things,  her  lack  of  faith  in  the  love  and  eternal 
goodness  of  the  Infinite  Father. 


122  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

Wrapped  only  in  the  thoughts  of  her  own  ail- 
ments, and  sorrows,  and  woes,  she  received  and  she 
gave  nothing  of  joy,  nothing  of  hope,  nothing  of 
courage,  nothing  of  value  to  those  whom  she  passed 
or  with  whom  she  came  in  contact.  But  on  the 
contrary  she  suggested  to  all  and  helped  to  intensify 
in  many,  those  mental  states  all  too  prevalent  in 
our  common  human  life.  And  as  she  passed  our 
friend  one  could  notice  a  slight  turn  of  the  head 
which,  coupled  with  the  expression  in  her  face, 
seemed  to  indicate  this  as  her  thought, — Your  dress 
and  your  conduct  are  not  wholly  in  keeping  with 
a  lady  of  your  years.  Thank  God,  then,  thank  God 
they  are  not.  And  may  He  in  His  great  goodness 
and  love  send  us  an  innumerable  company  of  the 
same  rare  type ;  and  may  they  live  a  thousand  years 
to  bless  mankind,  to  impart  the  life-giving  influ- 
ences of  their  own  royal  lives  to  the  numerous  ones 
all  about  us  who  stand  so  much  in  need  of  them. 
In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXXVI. 

HOW    MIND    BUILDS    BODY. 

Would  you  remain  always  young,  and  would 
you  carry  all  the  joyousness  and  buoyancy  of  youth 
into  your  maturer  years  ?  Then  have  care  concern- 
ing but  one  thing, — how  you  live  in  your  thought 
world.  This  will  determine  all.  It  was  the  inspired 
one,  Gautama,  the  Buddha,  who  said, — "  The  mind 
is  everything;  what  you  think  you  become."  And 
the  same  thing  had  Ruskin  in  mind  when  he  said, — 
"  Make  yourself  nests  of  pleasant  thoughts.  None 
of  us  as  yet  know,  for  none  of  us  have  been  taught 
in  early  youth,  what  fairy  palaces  we  may  build  of 
beautiful  thought, — proof  against  all  adversity" 
And  would  you  have  in  your  body  all  the  elasticity, 
all  the  strength,  all  the  beauty  of  your  younger 
years?  Then  live  these  in  your  mind,  making  no 
room  for  unclean  thought,  and  you  will  externalize 
them  in  your  body.  In  the  degree  that  you  keep 
young  in  thought  will  you  remain  young  in  body. 
And  you  will  find  that  your  body  will  in  turn  aid 
your  mind,  for  body  helps  mind  the  same  as  mind 
builds  body. 

You  are  continually  building,  and  so  externaliz- 
ing in  your  body  conditions  most  akin  to  the 
thoughts  and  emotions  you  entertain.    And  not  only 


124  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

are  you  so  building  from  within,  but  you  are  also 
continually  drawing  from  without,  forces  of  a  kin- 
dred nature.  Your  particular  kind  of  thought  con- 
nects you  with  a  similar  order  of  thought  from  with- 
out. If  it  is  bright,  hopeful,  cheerful,  you  connect 
yourself  with  a  current  of  thought  of  this  nature. 
If  it  is  sad,  fearing,  despondent,  then  this  is  the 
order  of  thought  you  connect  yourself  with. 

If  the  latter  is  the  order  of  your  thought,  then 
perhaps  unconsciously  and  by  degrees  you  have  been 
connecting  yourself  with  it.  You  need  to  go  back 
and  pick  up  again  a  part  of  your  child  nature,  with 
its  careless  and  cheerful  type  of  thought. 

Full,  rich,  and  abounding  health  is  the  normal 
and  the  natural  condition  of  life.  Anything  else 
is  an  abnormal  condition,  and  abnormal  conditions 
as  a  rule  come  through  perversions.  Go3  never  cre- 
ated sickness,  suffering,  and  disease ;  they  are  man's 
own  creations.  They  come  through  his  violating 
the  laws  under  which  he  lives.  So  used  are  we  to 
seeing  them  that  we  come  gradually,  if  not  to  think 
of  them  as  natural,  then  to  look  upon  them  as  a 
matter  of  course. 

The  time  will  come  when  the  work  of  the  phy- 
sician will  not  be  to  treat  and  attempt  to  heal  the 
body,  but  to  heal  the  mind,  which  in  turn  will  heal 
the  body.  In  other  words,  the  true  physician  will 
be  a  teacher ;  his  work  will  be  to  keep  people  well, 
instead  of  attempting  to  make  them  well  after  sick- 
ness and  disease  comes  on;  and  still  beyond  this 


How  Mind  Builds  Body  125 

there  will  come  a  time  when  each  will  be  his  own 
physician.  In  the  degree  that  we  live  in  harmony 
with  the  higher  laws  of  our  being,  and  so,  in  the 
degree  that  we  become  better  acquainted  with  the 
powers  of  the  mind  and  spirit,  will  we  give  less 
attention  to  the  body, — no  less  care,  but  less  atten- 
tion. 

The  bodies  of  thousands  to-day  would  be  much 
better  cared  for  if  their  owners  gave  them  less 
thought  and  attention.  As  a  rule,  those  who  think 
least  of  their  bodies  enjoy  the  best  health.  Many 
are  kept  in  continual  ill  health  by  the  abnormal 
thought  and  attention  they  give  them. 

Give  the  body  the  nourishment,  the  exercise,  the 
fresh  air,  the  sunlight  it  requires,  keep  it  clean,  and 
then  think  of  it  as  little  as  possible.  In  your 
thoughts  and  in  your  conversation  never  dwell  upon 
the  negative  side.  Don't  talk  of  sickness  and  dis- 
ease. By  talking  of  these  you  do  yourself  harm 
and  you  do  harm  to  those  who  listen  to  you.  Talk 
of  those  things  that  will  make  people  the  better  for 
listening  to  you.  Thus  you  will  infect  them  with 
health  and  strength  and  not  with  weakness  and 
disease. 

"  Never  affirm  or  repeat  about  your  health  what 
you  do  not  wish  to  be  true.  Do  not  dwell  upon  your 
ailments,  nor  study  your  symptoms.  Never  allow 
yourself  to  be  convinced  that  you  are  not  complete 
master  of  yourself.  Stoutly  affirm  your  superiority 
over  bodily  ills,  and  do  not  acknowledge  yourself 


126  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

the  slave  of  any  inferior  power.  ...  I  would  teach 
children  early  to  build  a  strong  barrier  between 
themselves  and  disease,  by  healthy  habits  of  thought, 
high  thinking,  and  purity  of  life.  I  would  teach 
them  to  expel  all  thoughts  of  death,  all  images  of 
disease,  all  discordant  emotions,  like  hatred,  malice, 
revenge,  envy,  and  sensuality,  as  they  would  ban- 
ish a  temptation  to  do  evil.  I  would  teach  them  that 
bad  food,  bad  drink,  or  bad  air  makes  bad  blood; 
that  bad  blood  makes  bad  tissue,  and  bad  flesh  bad 
morals.  I  would  teach  them  that  healthy  thoughts 
are  as  essential  to  healthy  bodies  as  pure  thoughts 
to  a  clean  life.  I  would  teach  them  to  cultivate  a 
strong  will  power,  and  to  brace  themselves  against 
life's  enemies  in  every  possible  way.  I  would  teach 
the  sick  to  have  hope,  confidence,  cheer.  Our 
thoughts  and  imaginations  are  the  only  real  limits 
to  our  possibilities.  No  man's  success  or  health 
will  ever  reach  beyond  his  own  confidence;  as  a 
rule,  we  erect  our  own  barriers." 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXXVII. 
SOUL   RADIANCE. 

All  the  frictions,  all  the  uncertainties,  all  the  ills, 
the  sufferings,  the  fears,  the  forebodings,  the  per- 
plexities of  life  come  to  us  because  we  are  out  of 
harmony  with  the  divine  order  of  things.  They 
will  continue  to  come  as  long  as  we  so  live.  Row- 
ing against  the  tide  is  hard  and  uncertain.  To  go 
with  the  tide  and  thus  to  take  advantage  of  the 
working  of  a  great  natural  force  is  safe  and  easy. 
To  come  into  the  conscious,  vital  realization  of  our 
oneness  with  the  Infinite  Life  and  Power  is  to  come 
into  the  current  of  this  divine  sequence.  Coming 
thus  into  harmony  with  the  Infinite,  brings  us  in 
turn  into  harmony  with  all  about  us,  into  harmony 
with  the  life  of  the  heavens,  into  harmony  with  all 
the  universe.  And  above  all,  it  brings  us  into  har- 
mony with  ourselves,  so  that  body,  soul,  and  mind 
become  perfectly  harmonized,  and  when  this  is  so, 
life  becomes  full  and  complete. 

The  sense  life  then  no  longer  masters  and  en- 
slaves us.  The  physical  is  subordinated  to  and 
ruled  by  the  mental ;  this  in  turn  is  subordinated 
to  and  continually  illumined  by  the  spiritual.  Life 
is  then  no  longer  the  poor,  onesided  thing  it  is  in  so 
many  cases;  but  the  three-fold,  the  all-round  life 


128  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

with  all  its  beauties  and  ever  increasing  joys  and 
powers  is  entered  upon.  Thus  it  is  that  we  are 
brought  to  realize  that  the  middle  path  is  the  great 
solution  of  life ;  neither  asceticism  on  the  one  hand 
nor  license  and  perverted  use  on  the  other.  Every- 
thing is  for  use,  but  all  must  be  wisely  used  in  order 
to  be  fully  enjoyed. 

As  we  live  in  these  higher  realizations  the  senses 
are  not  ignored  but  are  ever  more  fully  perfected. 
As  the  body  becomes  less  gross  and  heavy,  finer  in 
its  texture  and  form,  all  the  senses  become  finer, 
so  that  powers  we  do  not  now  realize  as  belonging 
to  us  gradually  develop.  Thus  we  come,  in  a  per- 
fectly natural  and  normal  way,  into  the  super-con- 
scious realms  whereby  we  make  it  possible  for  the 
higher  laws  and  truths  to  be  revealed  to  us.  As 
we  enter  into  these  realms  we  are  then  not  among 
those  who  give  their  time  to  speculating  as  to 
whether  this  one  or  that  one  had  the  insight  and  the 
powers  attributed  to  him,  but  we  are  able  to  know 
for  ourselves.  Neither  are  we  among  those  who  at- 
tempt to  lead  the  people  upon  the  hearsay  of  some 
one  else,  but  we  know  whereof  we  speak,  and  only 
thus  can  we  speak  with  authority.  There  are  many 
things  that  we  cannot  know  until  by  living  the  life 
we  bring  ourselves  into  that  state  where  it  is  pos- 
sible for  them  to  be  revealed  to  us.  "  If  any  man 
will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  It 
was  Plotinus  who  said,  The  mind  that  wishes  to 
behold  God  must  itself  become  God.    As  we  thus 


Soul  Radiance  129 

make  it  possible  for  these  higher  laws  and  truths 
to  be  revealed  to  us,  we  will  in  turn  become  en- 
lightened ones,  channels  through  which  they  may  be 
revealed  to  others. 

When  one  is  fully  alive  to  the  possibilities  that 
come  with  this  higher  awakening,  as  he  goes  here 
and  there,  as  he  mingles  with  his  fellow-men,  he 
imparts  to  all  an  inspiration  that  kindles  in  them  a 
feeling  of  power  kindred  to  his  own.  We  are  all 
continually  giving  out  influences  similar  to  those 
that  are  playing  in  our  own  lives.  We  do  this  in 
the  same  way  that  each  flower  emits  its  own  peculiar 
odor.  The  rose  breathes  out  its  fragrance  upon  the 
air  and  all  who  come  near  it  are  refreshed  and 
inspired  by  this  emanation  from  the  soul  of  the  rose. 
A  poisonous  weed  sends  out  its  obnoxious  odor ;  it 
is  neither  refreshing  nor  inspiring  in  its  effects,  and 
if  one  remain  near  it  long  he  may  be  so  unpleasantly 
affected  as  to  be  made  even  ill  by  it. 

The  higher  the  life  the  more  inspiring  and  help- 
ful are  the  emanations  that  it  is  continually  sending 
out.  The  lower  the  life  the  more  harmful  is  the 
influence  it  continually  sends  out  to  all  who  come 
in  contact  with  it.  Each  one  is  continually  radiat- 
ing an  atmosphere  of  one  kind  or  the  other. 

We  are  told  by  the  mariners  who  sail  on  the  In- 
dian Seas,  that  many  times  they  are  able  to  tell  their 
approach  to  certain  islands  long  before  they  can 
see  them  by  the  sweet  fragrance  of  the  sandalwood 
that  is  wafted  far  out  upon  the  deep.    Do  you  not 


130  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

see  how  it  would  serve  to  have  such  a  soul  playing 
through  such  a  body  that  as  you  go  here  and  there 
a  subtle,  silent  force  goes  out  from  you  that  all 
feel  and  are  influenced  by ;  so  that  you  carry  with 
you  an  inspiration  and  continually  shed  a  benedic- 
tion wherever  you  go ;  so  that  your  friends  and  all 
people  will  say, — His  coming  brings  peace  and  joy 
into  our  homes,  welcome  his  coming ;  so  that  as  you 
pass  along  the  street,  tired,  and  weary,  and  even  sin- 
sick  men  and  women  will  feel  a  certain  divine 
touch  that  will  awaken  new  desires  and  a  new  life 
in  them ;  that  will  make  the  very  horse  as  you  pass 
him  turn  his  head  with  a  strange,  half-human,  long- 
ing look?  Such  are  the  subtle  powers  of  the  hu- 
man soul  when  it  makes  itself  translucent  to  the 
Divine. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXXVIII. 
INTUITION:  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  SOUL. 

The  power  of  every  life,  the  very  life  itself,  is  de- 
termined by  what  it  relates  itself  to.  God  is  imma- 
nent as  well  as  transcendent.  He  is  creating,  work- 
ing, ruling  in  the  universe  today,  in  your  life  and 
in  mine,  just  as  much  as  He  ever  has  been.  We  are 
too  apt  to  regard  Him  after  the  manner  of  an  ab- 
sentee landlord,  one  who  has  set  in  operation  the 
forces  of  this  great  universe,  and  then  taken  Him- 
self away. 

In  the  degree,  however,  that  we  recognize  Him 
as  immanent  as  well  as  transcendent,  are  we  able 
to  partake  of  His  life  and  power.  For  in  the  de- 
gree that  we  recognize  Him  as  the  Infinite  Spirit 
of  Life  and  Power  that  is  today,  at  this  very  mo- 
ment, working  and  manifesting  in  and  through  all, 
and  then,  in  the  degree  that  we  come  into  the 
realization  of  our  oneness  with  this  life,  do  we  be- 
come partakers  of,  and  so  do  we  actualize  in  our- 
selves the  qualities  of  His  life.  In  the  degree  that 
we  open  ourselves  to  the  inflowing  tide  of  this  im- 
manent and  transcendent  life,  do  zve  make  ourselves 
channels  through  which  the  Infinite  Intelligence 
and  Power  can  work. 

It  is  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  mind  that 


132  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

we  are  enabled  to  connect  the  real  soul  life  with 
the  physical  life,  and  so  enable  the  soul  life  to  man- 
ifest and  work  through  the  physical.  The  thought 
life  needs  continually  to  be  illumined  from  within. 
This  illumination  can  come  in  just  the  degree  that 
through  the  agency  of  the  mind  we  recognize  our 
oneness  with  the  Divine,  of  which  each  soul  is  an 
individual  form  of  expression. 

This  gives  us  the  inner  guiding  which  we  call  in- 
tuition. "  Intuition  is  to  the  spiritual  nature  and 
understanding  practically  what  sense  perception  is 
to  the  sensuous  nature  and  understanding.  It  is  an 
inner  spiritual  sense  through  which  man  is  opened 
to  the  direct  revelation  and  knowledge  of  God,  the 
secrets  of  nature  and  life,  and  through  which  he  is 
brought  into  conscious  unity  and  fellowship  with 
God,  and  made  to  realize  his  own  deific  nature  and 
supremacy  of  being  as  the  son  of  God.  ...  It  is, 
we  repeat,  a  spiritual  sense  opening  inwardly,  as  the 
physical  senses  open  outwardly;  and  because  it 
has  the  capacity  to  perceive,  grasp,  and  know  the 
truth  at  first  hand,  independent  of  all  external 
sources  of  information,  we  call  it  intuition.  All  in- 
spired teaching  and  spiritual  revelations  are  based 
upon  the  recognition  of  this  spiritual  faculty  of  the 
soul,  and  its  power  to  receive  and  appropriate  them." 

Some  call  it  the  voice  of  the  soul;  some  call  it 
the  voice  of  God;  some  call  it  the  sixth  sense.  It 
is  our  inner  spiritual  sense. 

In  the  degree  that  we  come  into  the  recognition 


Intuition  :   The   Voice  of  the  Soul         133 

of  our  own  true  selves,  into  the  realization  of  the 
oneness  of  our  life  with  the  Infinite  Life,  and  in  the 
degree  that  we  open  ourselves  to  this  divine  inflow, 
does  this  voice  of  intuition,  this  voice  of  the  soul, 
this  voice  of  God,  speak  clearly ;  and  in  the  degree 
that  we  recognize,  listen  to,  and  obey  it,  does  it 
speak  ever  more  clearly,  until  by-and-by  there 
comes  the  time  when  it  is  unerring,  absolutely  un- 
erring, in  its  guidance. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XXXIX. 

MIRACLES   AND  THE  HIGHER   LIFE. 

The  most  powerful  agent  in  character-building  is 
this  awakening  to  the  true  self,  to  the  fact  that  man 
is  a  spiritual  being, — nay,  more,  that  I,  this  very 
eternal  I,  am  a  spiritual  being,  right  here  and  now, 
at  this  very  moment,  with  the  God-powers  which 
can  be  quickly  called  forth.  With  this  awakening, 
life  in  all  its  manifold  relations  becomes  wonder- 
fully simplified.  And  as  to  the  powers,  the  full 
realization  of  the  fact  that  man  is  a  spiritual  being 
and  a  living  as  such  brings,  they  are  absolutely 
without  limit,  increasing  in  direct  proportion  as  the 
higher  self,  the  God-self,  assumes  the  mastery,  and 
so  as  this  higher  spiritualization  of  life  goes  on. 

With  this  awakening  and  realization  one  is 
brought  at  once  en  rapport  with  the  universe.  He 
feels  the  power  and  the  thrill  of  the  life  universal. 
He  goes  out  from  his  own  little  garden  spot,  and 
mingles  with  the  great  universe ;  and  the  little  per- 
plexities, trials,  and  difficulties  of  life  that  to-day 
so  vex  and  annoy  him,  fall  away  of  their  own  ac- 
cord by  reason  of  their  very  insignificance.  The  in- 
tuitions become  keener  and  ever  more  keen  and  un- 
erring in  their  guidance.  There  comes  more  and 
more  the  power  of  reading  men,  so  that  no  harm 


Miracles  and  the  Higher  Life  135 

can  come  from  this  source.  There  comes  more  and 
more  the  power  of  seeing  into  the  future,  so  that 
more  and  more  true  becomes  the  old  adage, — that 
coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before.  Health 
in  time  takes  the  place  of  disease;  for  all  disease 
and  its  consequent  suffering  is  merely  the  result 
of  the  violation  of  law,  either  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, either  intentionally  or  unintentionally. 
There  comes  also  a  spiritual  power  which,  as  it  is 
sent  out,  is  adequate  for  the  healing  of  others  the 
same  as  in  the  days  of  old.  The  body  becomes  less 
gross  and  heavy,  finer  in  its  texture  and  form,  so 
that  it  serves  far  better  and  responds  far  more 
readily  to  the  higher  impulses  of  the  soul.  Matter 
itself  in  time  responds  to  the  action  of  these  higher 
forces;  and  many  things  that  we  are  accustomed 
by  reason  of  our  limited  vision  to  call  miraculous 
or  supernatural  become  the  normal,  the  natural,  the 
every-day. 

For  what,  let  us  ask,  is  a  miracle?  Nothing  more 
nor  less  than  this :  a  highly  illumined  soul,  one  who 
has  brought  his  life  into  thorough  harmony  with 
the  higher  spiritual  laws  and  forces  of  his  being, 
and  therefore  with  those  of  the  universe,  thus  mak- 
ing it  possible  for  the  highest  things  to  come  to  him, 
has  brought  to  him  a  law  a  little  higher  than  the 
ordinary  mind  knows  of  as  yet.  This  he  touches,  he 
operates.  It  responds.  The  people  see  the  result, 
and  cry  out,  Miracle!  miracle!  when  it  is  just  as 
natural,  just  as  fully  in  accordance  with  the  law 


136  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

on  this  higher  plane,  as  is  the  common,  the  every- 
day on  the  ordinary.  And  let  it  be  remembered  that 
the  miraculous,  the  supernatural  of  to-day  becomes, 
as  in  the  process  of  evolution  we  leave  the  lower  for 
the  higher,  the  common-place,  the  natural,  the 
every-day  of  to-morrow;  and,  truly,  miracles  are 
being  performed  in  the  world  to-day  just  as  much 
as  they  ever  have  been. 

The  Master  never  claimed  for  himself  anything 
that  he  did  not  claim  for  all  mankind;  but,  quite 
to  the  contrary,  he  said  and  continually  repeated, 
Not  only  shall  ye  do  these  things,  but  greater  than 
these  shall  ye  do ;  for  I  have  pointed  out  to  you  the 
way, — meaning,  though  strange  as  it  evidently 
seems  to  many,  exactly  what  he  said. 

What  All  the  World's  A-Seeking. 


XL. 
THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HIGHER  SELF. 

Great  should  be  the  joy  that  God's  boundless 
truth  is  open  to  all,  open  equally  to  all,  and  that  it 
will  make  each  one  its  dwelling  place  in  proportion 
as  he  earnestly  desires  it  and  opens  himself  to  it. 

And  in  regard  to  the  wisdom  that  guides  us  in 
our  daily  life,  there  is  nothing  that  it  is  right  and 
well  for  us  to  know  that  may  not  be  known  when 
we  recognize  the  law  of  its  coming,  and  are  able 
wisely  to  use  it.  Let  us  know  that  all  things  are 
ours  as  soon  as  we  know  how  to  appropriate  them. 

"I  hold  it  as  a  changeless  law, 

From  which  no  soul  can  sway  or  swerve, 
We  have  that  in  us  which  will  draw 
Whate'er  we  need  or  most  deserve." 

If  the  times  come  when  we  know  not  what  course 
to  pursue,  when  we  know  not  which  way  to  turn, 
the  fault  lies  in  ourselves.  If  the  fault  lies  in  our- 
selves then  the  correction  of  this  unnatural  condi- 
tion lies  also  in  ourselves.  It  is  never  necessary 
to  come  into  such  a  state  if  we  are  awake  and  re- 
main awake  to  the  light  and  the  powers  within  us. 
The  light  is  ever  shining,  and  the  only  thing  that 
it  is  necessary  for  us  diligently  to  see  to  is  that  we 
permit  neither  this  thing  nor  that  to  come  between 


138  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours       * 

us  and  the  light.  "  With  Thee  is  the  fountain  of 
life ;  in  Thy  light  shall  we  see  light." 

Let  us  hear  the  words  of  one  of  the  most  highly 
illumined  men  I  have  ever  known,  and  one  who  as 
a  consequence  is  never  in  the  dark,  when  the  time 
comes,  as  to  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it.  "  When- 
ever you  are  in  doubt  as  to  the  course  you  should 
pursue,  after  you  have  turned  to  every  outward 
means  of  guidance,  let  the  inward  eye  see,  let  the 
inzvard  ear  hear,  and  allow  this  simple,  natural, 
beautiful  process  to  go  on  unimpeded  by  question- 
ings or  doubts.  ...  In  all  dark  hours  and  times 
of  unwonted  perplexity  we  need  to  follow  one 
simple  direction,  found,  as  all  needed  directions  can 
be  found,  in  the  dear  old  gospel,  which  so  many 
read,  but  alas,  so  few  interpret.  '  Enter  into  thine 
inner  chamber  and  shut  the  door/  Does  this  mean 
that  we  must  literally  betake  ourselves  to  a  private 
closet  with  a  key  in  the  door?  If  it  did,  then  the 
command  could  never  be  obeyed  in  the  open  air, 
on  land  or  sea,  and  the  Christ  loved  the  lakes  and 
the  forests  far  better  than  the  cramping  rooms  of 
city  dwelling  houses ;  still  his  counsels  are  so  wide- 
reaching  that  there  is  no  spot  on  earth  and  no  con- 
ceivable situation  in  which  any  of  us  may  be  placed 
where  we  cannot  follow  them. 

"  One  of  the  most  intuitive  men  we  ever  met 
had  a  desk  in  a  city  office  where  several  other  gen- 
tlemen were  doing  business  constantly  and  often 
talking  loudly.     Entirely  undisturbed  by  the  many 


•'      The   Voice  of  the  Higher  Self  139 

various  sounds  about  him,  this  self-centred,  faith- 
ful man  would,  in  any  moment  of  perplexity,  draw 
the  curtains  of  privacy  so  completely  about  him 
that  he  would  be  as  fully  enclosed  in  his  own  psychic 
aura,  and  thereby  as  effectually  removed  from  all 
distractions  as  though  he  were  alone  in  some  pri- 
meval wood.  Taking  his  difficulty  with  him  into 
the  mystic  silence  in  the  form  of  a  direct  question, 
to  which  he  expected  a  certain  answer,  he  would 
remain  utterly  passive  until  the  reply  came,  and 
never  once  through  many  years'  experience  did  he 
find  himself  disappointed  or  misled.  Intuitive  per- 
ceptions of  truth  are  the  daily  bread  to  satisfy  our 
daily  hunger;  they  come  like  the  manna  in  the 
desert  day  by  day;  each  day  brings  adequate  sup- 
ply for  that  day's  need  only.  They  must  be  fol- 
lowed instantly,  for  dalliance  with  them  means 
their  obscuration. 

"  One  condition  is  imposed  by  universal  law,  and 
this  we  must  obey.  Put  all  wishes  aside  save  the 
one  desire  to  know  truth;  couple  with  this  one  de- 
mand the  fully  consecrated  determination  to  follow 
what  is  distinctly  perceived  as  truth  immediately 
it  is  revealed.  No  other  affection  must  be  permitted 
to  share  the  field  with  this  all-absorbing  love  of 
truth  for  its  own  sake.  Obey  this  one  direction  and 
never  forget  that  expectation  and  desire  are  bride 
and  bridegroom  and  forever  inseparable,  and  you 
will  soon  find  your  hitherto  darkened  way  grow 
luminous    with    celestial    radiance,    for    with    the 


140  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

heaven  within,  all  heavens  without  incessantly  co- 
operate." This  may  be  termed  going  into  the  "  si- 
lence." This  it  is  to  perceive  and  to  be  guided  by 
the  light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world.  This  it  is  to  listen  to  and  be  guided  by 
the  voice  of  your  own  soul,  the  voice  of  your  higher 
self. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XLI. 

THE    SOUL   MUST   BE    MADE   TRANSLU- 
CENT TO  THE  DIVINE. 

The  soul  is  divine  and  in  allowing  it  to  become 
translucent  to  the  Infinite  Spirit  it  reveals  all  things 
to  us.  As  man  turns  away  from  the  Divine  Light 
do  all  things  become  hidden.  There  is  nothing  hid- 
den of  itself.  When  the  spiritual  sense  is  opened, 
then  it  transcends  all  the  limitations  of  the  physical 
senses  and  the  intellect.  And  in  the  degree  that  we 
are  able  to  get  away  from  the  limitations  set  by 
them,  and  realize  that  so  far  as  the  real  life  is  con- 
cerned it  is  one  with  the  Infinite  Life,  then  we  begin 
to  reach  the  place  where  this  voice  will  always 
speak,  where  it  will  never  fail  us,  if  we  follow  it, 
and  as  a  consequence  where  we  will  always  have 
the  divine  illumination  and  guidance.  To  know 
this  and  to  live  in  this  realization  is  not  to  live  in 
heaven  hereafter,  but  to  live  in  heaven  here  and 
now,  to-day  and  every  day. 

No  human  soul  need  be  without  it.  When  we 
turn  our  face  in  the  right  direction  it  comes  as 
simply  and  as  naturally  as  the  flower  blooms  and 
the  winds  blow.  It  is  not  to  be  bought  with  money 
or  with  price.    It  is  a  condition  waiting  simply  to  be 


142  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

realized,  by  rich  and  by  poor,  by  king  and  by  peas- 
ant, by  master  and  by  servant  the  world  over.  All 
are  equal  heirs  to  it.  And  so  the  peasant,  if  he  find 
it  first,  lives  a  life  far  transcending  in  beauty  and  in 
real  power  the  life  of  his  king.  The  servant,  if  he 
find  it  first,  lives  a  life  surpassing  the  life  of  his 
master. 

If  you  would  find  the  highest,  the  fullest,  and  the 
richest  life  that  not  only  this  world  but  that  any 
world  can  know,  then  do  away  with  the  sense  of 
the  separateness  of  your  life  from  the  life  of  God. 
Hold  to  the  thought  of  your  oneness.  In  the  de- 
gree that  you  do  this  you  will  find  yourself  realiz- 
ing it  more  and  more,  and  as  this  life  of  realization 
is  lived,  you  will  find  that  no  good  thing  will  be 
withheld,  for  all  things  are  included  in  this.  Then 
it  will  be  yours,  without  fears  or  forebodings,  sim- 
ply to  do  today  what  your  hands  find  to  do,  and  so 
be  ready  for  tomorrow,  when  it  comes,  knowing 
that  tomorrow  will  bring  tomorrow's  supplies  for 
the  mental,  the  spiritual,  and  the  physical  life.  Re- 
member, however,  that  tomorrow's  supplies  are  not 
needed  until  tomorrow  comes. 

If  one  is  willing  to  trust  himself  fully  to  the  Law, 
the  Law  will  never  fail  him.  It  is  the  half-hearted 
trusting  to  it  that  brings  uncertain,  and  so,  un- 
satisfactory results.  Nothing  is  firmer  and  surer 
than  Deity.  It  will  never  fail  the  one  who  throws 
himself  wholly  upon  it.    The  secret  of  life  then,  is 


Soul  Translucent  to  the  Divine  143 

to  live  continually  in  this  realization,  whatever  one 
may  be  doing,  wherever  one  may  be,  by  day  and  by 
night,  both  waking  and  sleeping.  It  can  be  lived 
in  while  we  are  sleeping  no  less  than  when  we  are 

awake. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XLI1. 

RECEIVING   INSTRUCTION   DURING 
SLEEP. 

During  the  process  of  sleep  it  is  merely  the  physi- 
cal body  that  is  at  rest  and  in  quiet;  the  soul  life 
with  all  its  activities  goes  right  on.  Sleep  is  na- 
ture's provision  for  the  recuperation  of  the  body,  for 
the  rebuilding  and  hence  the  replacing  of  the  waste 
that  is  continually  going  on  during  the  waking  hours. 
It  is  nature's  great  restorer.  If  sufficient  sleep 
is  not  allowed  the  body,  so  that  the  rebuilding  may 
equalize  the  wasting  process,  the  body  is  gradually 
depleted  and  weakened,  and  any  ailment  or  malady, 
when  it  is  in  this  condition,  is  able  to  find  a  more 
ready  entrance.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  those 
who  are  subject  to  it  will  take  a  cold,  as  we  term 
it,  more  readily  when  the  body  is  tired  or  exhausted 
through  loss  of  sleep  than  at  most  any  other  time. 
The  body  is  in  that  condition  where  outside  influ- 
ences can  have  a  more  ready  effect  upon  it,  than 
when  it  is  in  its  normal  condition.  And  when  they 
do  have  an  effect  they  always  go  to  the  weaker  por- 
tions first. 

Our  bodies  are  given  us  to  serve  far  higher  pur- 
poses than  we  ordinarily  use  them  for.  Especially 
is  this  true  in  the  numerous  cases  where  the  body  is 


Receiving  Ins /ruction  during  Sleep        145 

master  of  its  owner.  In  the  degree  that  we  come 
into  the  realization  of  the  higher  powers  of  the  mind 
and  spirit,  in  that  degree  does  the  body,  through 
their  influence  upon  it,  become  less  gross  and  heavy, 
finer  in  its  texture  and  form.  And  then,  because 
the  mind  finds  a  kingdom  of  enjoyment  in  itself, 
and  in  all  the  higher  things  it  becomes  related  to, 
excesses  in  eating  and  drinking,  as  well  as  all 
others,  naturally  and  of  their  own  accord  fall  away. 
There  also  falls  away  the  desire  for  the  heavier, 
grosser,  less  valuable  kinds  of  food  and  drink,  such 
as  the  flesh  of  animals,  alcoholic  drinks,  and  all 
things  of  the  class  that  stimulate  the  body  and  the 
passions  rather  than  build  the  body  and  the  brain 
into  a  strong,  clean,  well-nourished,  enduring,  and 
fibrous  condition.  In  the  degree  that  the  body  thus 
becomes  less  gross  and  heavy,  finer  in  its  texture 
and  form,  is  there  less  waste,  and  what  there  is  is 
more  easily  replaced,  so  that  it  keeps  in  a  more  reg- 
ular and  even  condition.  When  this  is  true,  less 
sleep  is  actually  required.  And  even  the  amount 
that  is  taken  does  more  for  a  body  of  this  finer 
type  than  it  can  do  for  one  of  the  other  nature. 

As  the  body  in  this  way  grows  finer,  in  other 
words,  as  the  process  of  its  evolution  is  thus  accel- 
erated, it  in  turn  helps  the  mind  and  the  soul  in  the 
realization  of  ever  higher  perceptions,  and  thus 
body  helps  mind  the  same  as  mind  builds  body.  It 
was  undoubtedly  this  fact  that  Browning  had  in 
mind  when  he  said : 


146  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

"Let  us  cry  'All  good  things 
Are  ours,  nor  soul  helps  flesh,  more  now, 
Than  flesh  helps  soul.'  " 

Sleep,  then,  is  for  the  resting  and  the  rebuilding 
of  the  body.  The  soul  needs  no  rest,  and  while 
the  body  is  at  rest  in  sleep  the  soul  life  is  active 
the  same  as  when  the  body  is  in  activity. 

There  are  some,  having  a  deep  insight  into  the 
soul's  activities,  who  say  that  we  travel  when  we 
sleep.  Some  are  able  to  recall  and  bring  over  into 
the  conscious,  waking  life  the  scenes  visited,  the 
information  gained,  and  the  events  that  have  tran- 
spired. Most  people  are  not  able  to  do  this  and  so 
much  that  might  otherwise  be  gained  is  lost.  They 
say,  however,  that  it  is  in  our  power,  in  propor- 
tion as  we  understand  the  laws,  to  go  where  we 
will,  and  to  bring  over  into  the  conscious,  waking 
life  all  the  experiences  thus  gained.  Be  this,  how- 
ever, as  it  may,  it  certainly  is  true  that  while  sleep- 
ing we  have  the  power,  in  a  perfectly  normal  and 
natural  way,  to  get  much  of  value  by  way  of  light, 
instruction,  and  growth  that  the  majority  of  people 
now  miss. 

If  the  soul  life,  that  which  relates  us  to  Infinite 
Spirit,  is  always  active,  even  while  the  body  is  at 
rest,  why  may  not  the  mind  so  direct  conditions  as 
one  falls  asleep,  that  while  the  body  is  at  rest,  it  may 
continually  receive  illumination  from  the  soul  and 
bring  what  it  thus  receives  over  into  the  conscious, 
waking  life  ?    This,  indeed,  can  be  done,  and  is  done 


Receiving  Instructio?i  during  Sleep        147 

by  some  to  great  advantage;  and  many  times  the 
highest  inspirations  from  the  soul  come  in  this  way, 
as  would  seem  most  natural,  since  at  this  time  all 
communications  from  the  outer,  material  world  no 
longer  enter.  By  charging  the  mind  on  going  to 
sleep  as  to  a  particular  time  for  waking,  it  is  pos- 
sible, as  many  of  us  know,  to  wake  on  the  very 
minute. 

The  mind  acting  intently  along  a  particular  line 
will  continue  so  to  act  until  some  other  object  of 
thought  carries  it  along  another  line.  And  since 
in  sleep  only  the  body  is  in  quiet  while  the  mind 
and  soul  are  active,  then  the  mind  on  being  given 
a  certain  direction  when  one  drops  off  to  sleep,  will 
take  up  the  line  along  which  it  is  directed,  and  can 
be  made,  in  time,  to  bring  over  into  consciousness 
the  results  of  its  activities.  Some  will  be  able  very 
soon  to  get  results  of  this  kind ;  for  some  it  will 
take  longer.  Quiet  and  continued  effort  will  in- 
crease the  faculty. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XLIII. 

THE  JOSEPH  TYPE  BOTH  DREAMS  AND 
INTERPRETS. 

Then  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  the  drawing  power 
of  mind,  since  the  mind  is  always  active,  we  are 
drawing  to  us  even  while  sleeping,  influences  from 
the  realms  kindred  to  those  in  which  we  in  our 
thoughts  are  living  before  we  fall  asleep.  In  this 
way  we  can  put  ourselves  into  relation  with  what- 
ever kinds  of  influence  we  choose  and  accordingly 
gain  much  during  the  process  of  sleep.  In  many 
ways  the  interior  faculties  are  more  open  and  re- 
ceptive while  we  are  in  sleep  than  while  we  are 
awake.  Hence  the  necessity  of  exercising  even 
greater  care  as  to  the  nature  of  the  thoughts  that 
occupy  the  mind  as  we  enter  into  sleep,  for  there 
can  come  to  us  only  what  we  by  our  own  order  of 
thought  attract.  We  have  it  entirely  in  our  own 
hands. 

And  for  the  same  reason, — this  greater  degree  of 
receptivity  during  this  period, — we  are  able  by  un- 
derstanding and  using  the  law,  to  gain  much  of 
value  more  readily  in  this  way  than  when  the  physi- 
cal senses  are  fully  open  to  the  material  world  about 
us.  Many  will  find  a  practice  somewhat  after  the 
following  nature  of  value :  When  light  or  informa- 


Joseph   Type  both  Dreams  and  Interprets  149 

tion  is  desired  along  any  particular  line,  light  or 
information  you  feel  it  is  right  and  wise  for  you 
to  have,  as,  for  example,  light  in  regard  to  an  un- 
certain course  of  action,  then  as  you  retire,  first 
bring  your  mind  into  the  attitude  of  peace  and  good- 
will for  all.  You  in  this  way  bring  yourself  into  an 
harmonious  condition,  and  in  turn  attract  to  your- 
self these  same  peaceful  conditions  from  without. 

Then  resting  in  this  sense  of  peace,  quietly  and 
calmly  send  out  your  earnest  desire  for  the  needed 
light  or  information ;  cast  out  of  your  mind  all  fears 
or  forebodings  lest  it  come  not,  for  "  in  quietness 
and  in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength."  Take 
the  expectant  attitude  of  mind,  firmly  believing  and 
expecting  that  when  you  awake  the  desired  results 
will  be  with  you.  Then  on  awaking,  before  any 
thoughts  or  activities  from  the  outside  world  come 
in  to  absorb  the  attention,  remain  for  a  little  while 
receptive  to  the  intuitions  or  the  impressions  that 
come.  When  they  come,  when  they  manifest  them- 
selves clearly,  then  act  upon  them  without  delay. 
In  the  degree  that  you  do  this,  in  that  degree  will 
the  power  of  doing  it  ever  more  effectively  grow. 

Or,  if  for  unselfish  purposes  you  desire  to  grow 
and  develop  any  of  your  faculties,  or  to  increase 
the  health  and  strength  of  your  body,  take  a  cor- 
responding attitude  of  mind,  the  form  of  which  will 
readily  suggest  itself  in  accordance  with  your  par- 
ticular needs  or  desires.  In  this  way  you  will  open 
yourself  to,  you  will   connect  yourself  with,  and 


150  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

you  will  set  into  operation  within  yourself,  the  par- 
ticular order  of  forces  that  will  make  for  these  re- 
sults. Don't  be  afraid  to  voice  your  desires.  In 
this  way  you  set  into  operation  vibratory  forces 
which  go  out  and  which  make  their  impress  felt 
somewhere,  and  which,  arousing  into  activity  or 
uniting  with  other  forces,  set  about  to  actualize 
your  desires.  No  good  thing  shall  be  withheld  from 
him  who  lives  in  harmony  with  the  higher  laws  and 
forces.  There  are  no  desires  that  shall  not  be  sat- 
isfied to  the  one  who  knows  and  who  wisely  uses 
the  powers  with  which  he  or  she  is  endowed. 

Your  sleep  will  be  more  quiet,  and  peaceful,  and 
refreshing,  and  so  your  power  increased  mentally, 
physically,  and  spiritually,  simply  by  sending  out 
as  you  fall  asleep,  thoughts  of  love  and  good-will, 
thoughts  of  peace  and  harmony  for  all.  In  this 
way  you  are  connecting  yourself  with  all  the  forces 
in  the  universe  that  make  for  peace  and  harmony. 

Visions  and  inspirations  of  the  highest  order  will 
come  in  the  degree  that  we  make  for  them  the  right 
conditions.  One  who  has  studied  deeply  into  the 
subject  in  hand  has  said:  "To  receive  education 
spiritually  while  the  body  is  resting  in  sleep  is  a 
perfectly  normal  and  orderly  experience,  and  would 
occur  definitely  and  satisfactorily  in  the  lives  of  all 
of  us,  if  we  paid  more  attention  to  internal  and  con- 
sequently less  to  external  states  with  their  supposed 
but  unreal  necessities.  .  .  .  Our  thoughts  make  us 
what  we  are  here  and  hereafter,  and  our  thoughts 


Joseph   Type  both  Dreams  and  Interprets  151 

are  often  busier  by  night  than  by  day,  for  when  we 
are  asleep  to  the  exterior  we  can  be  wide  awake  to 
the  interior  world ;  and  the  unseen  world  is  a  sub- 
stantial place,  the  conditions  of  which  are  entirely 
regulated  by  mental  and  moral  attainments.  When 
we  are  not  deriving  information  through  outward 
avenues  of  sensation,  we  are  receiving  instruction 
through  interior  channels  of  perception,  and  when 
this  fact  is  understood  for  what  it  is  worth,  it  will 
become  a  universal  custom  for  persons  to  take  to 
sleep  with  them  the  special  subject  on  which  they 
most  earnestly  desire  particular  instruction.  The 
Pharaoh  type  of  person  dreams,  and  so  does  his 
butler  and  baker ;  but  the  Joseph  type,  which  is  that 
of  the  truly  gifted  seer,  both  dreams  and  interprets." 
In  Tune  with  the  Infinite, 


XLIV. 

HUMANENESS    IN    OUR    DIET. 

"  Is  not  flesh-eating  natural  ?  "  I  hear  it  asked. 
"  Does  not  man  in  his  primitive,  savage  state  make 
use  of  flesh  naturally?  Do  not  animals  devour  one 
another?"  Yes;  but  we  are  not  savages,  nor  are 
we  purely  animals,  and  it  is  time  for  us  to  have  out- 
grown this  attendant-of-savage-life  custom.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  that  considerably  more  than 
one-half  of  the  people  in  the  world  to-day  are  not 
flesh-eaters.  And  many  peoples,  whom  large  num- 
bers in  America  and  in  England,  for  example,  refer 
to  as  the  heathen,  and  send  missionaries  to  Chris- 
tianize, are  far  ahead  of  us,  and  hence  more  Christian 
in  this  matter.  And  one  reason  why  missionaries 
in  many  parts  of  India,  among  the  Buddhists  and 
Brahmins,  for  example,  have  been  so  comparatively 
unsuccessful  in  their  work  is  because  the  majority 
of  those  keen-minded  and  spiritually  unfolded  peo- 
ple cannot  see  what  superiority  there  is  in  the  re- 
ligion of  the  one  whom  it  allows  to  kill,  cook,  and 
feast  upon  the  bodies  of  his  or  her  fellow-creatures, 
which  they  themselves  could  not  do. 

In  Bombay,  to  have  the  carcasses  of  animals  ex- 
posed to  public  view,  as  we  see  them  in  the  stores 
and  markets  here,  and  at  times  scores  of  them  deco- 


Humaneness  in  Our  Diet  153 

rating  their  windows  and  entire  fronts,  is  prohibited 

by  law. 

We  shall  find  numerous  articles  of  food,  as  we 
study  the  matter,  that,  so  far  as  body  nourishing, 
building,   and   sustaining   qualities   are  concerned, 
contain"  twice,   and  in   some   cases   over  twice,  as 
much  as  any  flesh  food  that  can  be  mentioned.    The 
liability  to  mistake  in  this  matter  lies  in  the  fact 
that  flesh  foods  when  taken  into  the  stomach  burn, 
oxygenize,  more  quickly  than  most  other  foods  do, 
and  this  short  stimulating  effect,  resembling  more 
or  less  the  stimulating  effects  of  alcohol,  is  mis- 
taken for  a  body  nourishing  and  sustaining  effect. 
No,  experience  will  teach  you  that  if  you  do  away 
with  flesh-eating  and  get  in  its  place  the  other  valu- 
able foods,  the  time  will  quickly  come  when  you 
will  care  less  and  less  for  it ;  then  again,  the  time 
will  come  when  you  will  have  no  desire  for  it,  and 
finally,  you  will  grow  positively  to  dislike  it  and  its 
effects,   and   nothing  could   induce  you  to   return 
again  to  the  flesh-pots.    And  as  for  those  who  think 
that  the  ones  who  are  not  flesh-eaters  arc  neces- 
sarily weaklings,  I  should  like  to  match  a  friend  of 
mine,  an  instructor  in  one  of  our  great  American 
universities,  who  for  over  eighteen  years  has  eaten 
no  flesh  foods— I  should  like  to  match  him  with 
any  whom  they  may  send  forward,  when  it  comes 
to  a  test  of  long-continued  work  and  endurance. 

In  London  there  are  already  numbers  of  restau- 
rants where  no  flesh  foods  are  served;  in  Berlin 


154  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

there  are  already  about  twenty,  and  their  number 
in  these,  as  well  as  in  numerous  other  cities,  is  con- 
tinually increasing.  It  is  a  matter  of  but  a  short 
time  when  there  will  be  numbers  of  such  in  our  own 
country.  The  only  really  consistent  humanitarian 
is  the  one  who  is  not  a  flesh-eater. 

When  one  goes  into  the  better  restaurants  where 
no  flesh  foods  are  served,  in  England  and  Germany 
for  example,  he  is  impressed  with  the  foundation- 
less  excuse  of  so  many  people,  that  it  is  hard,  or 
even  impossible,  to  get  along  without  flesh  foods. 
In  the  other  realms  will  be  found  an  abundance,  a 
hundred  or  a  thousand  times  over,  and  especially 
when  we  begin  to  give  some  little  attention  to  the 
great  varieties  of  most  valuable  foods  there,  and  to 
the  exceedingly  appetizing  ways  in  which  they  can 
be  prepared.  One  reason  why  such  large  numbers 
of  people  feel  that  meat  is  a  necessity,  or  almost  a 
necessity  with  them  as  an  article  of  food,  is  because 
in  our  hotels  and  restaurants  and  cafes,  and,  in 
fact,  in  the  majority  of  our  homes,  the  meat  element 
forms  the  chief  portion  of  the  foods  prepared  for 
our  tables,  and  to  it,  practically,  all  the  skill  in 
preparation  is  given;  while  the  other  things  are 
looked  upon  more  as  accessories,  and  are  many 
times  prepared  in  an  exceedingly  careless  manner, 
much  as  mere  accessories  would  be.  But  with  a 
decreasing  use  of  flesh  foods  and  with  more  atten- 
tion given  to  the  skilful  preparation  of  the  large 
numbers  of  other  still   more   valuable  foods,   we 


Humaneness  in  Our  Diet  155 

shall  begin  to  wonder  why  we  have  so  long  been 
slaves  to  a  mere  custom,  thinking  it  a  necessity. 

The  time  will  come  in  the  world's  history,  and  a 
movement  is  setting  in  that  direction  even  now, 
when  it  will  be  deemed  as  strange  a  thing  to  find 
a  man  or  a  woman  who  eats  flesh  as  food,  as  it  is 
now  to  find  a  man  or  a  woman  who  refrains  from 
eating  it.  And  personally,  I  share  the  belief  with 
many  others,  that  the  highest  mental,  physical,  and 
spiritual  excellence  will  come  to  a  person  only 
when,  among  other  things,  he  refrains  from  a  flesh 
and  blood  diet. 

And  there  is  another  matter  of  grave  importance 
that  we  should  not  be  allowed  to  lose  sight  of  in 
this  connection.  The  brutality  to  the  animal  crea- 
tion, which  as  a  weaker  creation  we  should  pro- 
tect and  care  for,  has  its  corresponding  and  bal- 
ancing element  in  connection  with  our  duty  to  those 
who  are  hired  to  do  our  butchery  for  us. 

Each  one  who  aids  in  creating  the  demand  for 
flesh  foods  is  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  not  indi- 
rectly but  directly,  responsible  for  the  degrading 
and  dehumanizing  influences  at  work  in  the  lives  of 
many  thousands  of  their  fellow-men.  We  arc  our 
brother's  keeper  whenever  it  comes  to  a  matter  that 
we  are  personally  involved  in,  and  there  are  respon- 
sibilities that  we  cannot  shift  after  we  are  once 
made  acquainted  with  the  facts  pertaining  to  them. 

Every  Living  Creature. 


XLV. 
TO   BE   AT   PEACE. 

A  deep  interior  meaning  underlies  the  great  truth, 
"  To  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace."  To 
recognize  the  fact  that  we  are  spirit,  and  to  live  in 
this  thought,  is  to  be  spiritually  minded,  and  so  to 
be  in  harmony  and  peace.  Oh,  the  thousands  of 
men  and  women  all  about  us  weary  with  care, 
troubled  and  ill  at  ease,  running  hither  and  thither 
to  find  peace,  weary  in  body,  soul,  and  mind ;  going 
to  other  countries,  traveling  the  world  over,  coming 
back,  and  still  not  finding  it.  Of  course  they  have 
not  found  it  and  they  never  will  find  it  in  this  way, 
because  they  are  looking  for  it  where  it  is  not. 
They  are  looking  for  it  without  when  they  should 
look  within.  Peace  is  to  be  found  only  within,  and 
unless  one  find  it  there  he  will  never  find  it  at  all. 

Peace  lies  not  in  the  external  world.  It  lies 
within  one's  own  soul.  We  may  travel  over  many 
different  avenues  in  pursuit  of  it,  we  may  seek  it 
through  the  channels  of  the  bodily  appetites  and 
passions,  we  may  seek  it  through  all  the  channels 
of  the  external,  we  may  chase  for  it  hither  and 
thither,  but  it  will  always  be  just  beyond  our  grasp, 
because  we  are  searching  for  it  where  it  is  not.  In 
the  degree,  however,  that  we  order  the  bodily  appe- 


To  be  at  Peace  157 

tites  and  passions  in  accordance  with  the  prompt- 
ings of  the  soul  within  will  the  higher  forms  of 
happiness  and  peace  enter  our  lives ;  but  in  the  de- 
gree that  we  fail  in  doing  this  will  disease,  suffering, 
and  discontent  enter  in. 

To  be  at  one  with  God  is  to  be  at  peace.  The 
child  simplicity  is  the  greatest  agency  in  bringing 
this  full  and  complete  realization,  the  child  sim- 
plicity that  recognizes  its  true  relations  with  the 
Father's  life.  There  are  people  I  know  who  have 
come  into  such  a  conscious  realization  of  their  one- 
ness with  this  Infinite  Life,  this  Spirit  of  Infinite 
Peace,  that  their  lives  are  fairly  bubbling  over  with 
joy.  I  have  particularly  in  mind  at  this  moment 
a  comparatively  young  man  who  was  an  invalid  for 
several  years,  his  health  completely  broken  with  ner- 
vous exhaustion,  who  thought  there  was  nothing  in 
life  worth  living  for,  to  whom  everything  and  every- 
body presented  a  gloomy  aspect,  and  he  in  turn 
presented  a  gloomy  aspect  to  all  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact.  Not  long  ago  he  came  into  such 
a  vital  realization  of  his  oneness  with  this  Infinite 
Power,  he  opened  himself  so  completely  to  its 
divine  inflow,  that  to-day  he  is  in  perfect  health, 
and  frequently  as  I  meet  him  now  he  cannot  re- 
sist the  impulse  to  cry  out,  "  Oh,  it  is  a  joy  to  be 
alive." 

He  who  comes  into  this  higher  realization  never 
has  any  fear,  for  he  has  always  with  him  a  sense 
of  protection,  and  the  very  realization  of  this  makes 


158  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

his  protection  complete.  Of  him  it  is  true — "  No 
weapon  that  is  formed  against  thee  shall  prosper;" 
"  There  shall  no  ill  come  nigh  thy  dwelling ;"  "  Thou 
shalt  be  in  league  with  the  stones  of  the  field,  and 
the  beasts  of  the  field  shall  be  at  peace  with  thee." 

These  are  the  men  and  the  women  who  seem  to 
live  charmed  lives.  The  moment  wC  fear  anything 
we  open  the  door  for  the  entrance  of  the  actualiza- 
tion of  the  very  thing  we  fear.  An  animal  will 
never  harm  a  person  who  is  absolutely  fearless  in 
regard  to  it.  The  instant  he  fears  he  opens  himself 
to  danger ;  and  some  animals,  the  dog  for  example, 
can  instantly  detect  the  element  of  fear,  and  this 
gives  him  the  courage  to  do  harm.  In  the  degree 
that  we  come  into  a  full  realization  of  our  oneness 
with  this  Infinite  Power  do  we  become  calm  and 
quiet,  undisturbed  by  the  little  occurrences  that  be- 
fore so  vex  and  annoy  us.  We  are  no  longer  dis- 
appointed in  people,  for  we  always  read  them  aright. 
We  have  the  power  of  penetrating  into  their  very 
souls  and  seeing  the  underlying  motives  that  are 
at  work  there. 

As  soon  as  we  arc  able  to  read  people  aright  we 
will  then  cease  to  be  disappointed  in  them,  we  will 
cease  to  place  them  on  pedestals,  for  this  can  never 
be  done  without  some  attendant  disappointment. 
The  fall  will  necessarily  come,  sooner  or  later,  and 
moreover,  we  are  thus  many  times  unfair  to  our 
friends.  When  we  come  into  harmony  with  this 
Spirit  of  Peace,  evil  reports  and  apparent  bad  treat- 


To  be  at  Peace  159 

ment,  either  at  the  hands  of  friends  or  of  enemies, 
will  no  longer  disturb  us.  When  we  are  conscious 
of  the  fact  that  in  our  life  and  our  work  we  are 
true  to  that  eternal  principle  of  right,  of  truth,  of 
justice  that  runs  through  all  the  universe,  that 
unites  and  governs  all,  that  always  eventually  pre- 
vails, then  nothing  of  this  kind  can  come  nigh  us, 
and  come  what  may  we  will  always  be  tranquil  and 
undisturbed. 

The  things  that  cause  sorrow,  and  pain,  and  be- 
reavement will  not  be  able  to  take  the  hold  of  us 
they  now  take,  for  true  wisdom  will  enable  us  to  see 
the  proper  place  and  know  the  right  relations  of  all 
things.  The  loss  of  friends  by  the  transition  we 
call  death  will  not  cause  sorrow  to  the  soul  that  has 
come  into  this  higher  realization,  for  he  knows  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  death,  for  each  one  is  not 
only  a  partaker,  but  an  eternal  partaker,  of  this  In- 
finite Life.  He  knows  that  the  mere  falling  away 
of  the  physical  body  by  no  means  affects  the  real 
soul  life.  With  a  tranquil  spirit  born  of  a  higher 
faith  he  can  realize  for  himself,  and  to  those  less 
strong  he  can  say: 

Loving  friends!  be  wise  and  dry 
Straightway  every  weeping  eye; 
What  you  left  upon  the  bier 
Is  not  worth  a  single  tear; 
'Tis  a  simple  sea-shell;  one 
Out  of  which  the  pearl  has  gone. 
The  shell  was  nothing,  leave  it  there; 
The  pearl — the  soul — was  all,  is  here. 


160  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

And  so  far  as  the  element  of  separation  is  con- 
cerned, he  realizes  that  to  spirit  there  are  no  bounds, 
and  that  spiritual  communion,  whether  between  two 
persons  in  the  body,  or  two  persons,  one  in  the  body 
and  one  out  of  the  body,  is  within  the  reach  of  all. 
In  the  degree  that  the  higher  spiritual  life  is  real- 
ized can  there  be  this  higher  spiritual  communion. 

In  the  degree  that  we  are  filled  with  this  Spirit 
of  Peace  by  thus  opening  ourselves  to  its  inflow 
does  it  pour  through  us,  so  that  we  carry  it  with  us 
wherever  we  go.  In  the  degree  that  we  thus  open 
ourselves  do  we  become  magnets  to  attract  peace 
from  all  sources ;  and  in  the  degree  that  we  attract 
and  embody  it  in  ourselves  are  we  able  to  give  it 
forth  to  others.  We  can  in  this  way  become  such 
perfect  embodiments  of  peace  that  wherever  we  go 
we  are  continually  shedding  benedictions.  There 
are  people  all  around  us  who  are  continually  giving 
out  blessings  and  comfort,  persons  whose  mere 
presence  seems  to  change  sorrow  into  joy,  fear  into 
courage,  despair  into  hope,  weakness  into  power. 

It  is  the  one  who  has  come  into  the  realization 
of  his  own  true  self  who  carries  this  power  with 
him  and  who  radiates  it  wherever  he  goes — the  one 
who,  as  we  say,  has  found  his  center.  And  in  all 
the  great  universe  there  is  but  one  center — the  In- 
finite Power  that  is  working  in  and  through  all. 
In  Tune  with  the  Infinite- 


XLVL 

COURAGE  BEGETS  STRENGTH ;   FEAR 
BEGETS  WEAKNESS. 

The  one  who  then  has  found  his  centre  is  the  one 
who  has  come  into  the  realization  of  his  oneness 
with  this  Infinite  Power,  the  one  who  recognizes 
himself  as  a  spiritual  being,  for  God  is  spirit. 

Such  is  the  man  of  power.  Centred  in  the  In- 
finite, he  has  thereby,  so  to  speak,  connected  him- 
self with,  he  has  attached  his  belts  to,  the  great 
power-house  of  the  universe.  He  is  constantly 
drawing  power  to  himself  from  all  sources.  For, 
thus  centred,  knowing  himself,  conscious  of  his  own 
power,  the  thoughts  that  go  from  his  mind  are 
thoughts  of  strength ;  and  by  virtue  of  the  law  that 
like  attracts  like,  he  by  his  thoughts  is  continually 
attracting  to  himself  from  all  quarters  the  aid  of  all 
whose  thoughts  are  thoughts  of  strength,  and  in 
this  way  he  is  linking  himself  with  this  order  of 
thought  in  the  universe. 

And  so  to  him  that  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given. 
This  is  simply  the  working  of  a  natural  law.  His 
strong,  positive,  and  hence  constructive  thought  is 
continually  working  success  for  him  along  all  lines, 
and  continually  bringing  to  him  help  from  all  direc- 
tions.    The  things  that  he  sees,  that  he  creates  in 


1 62  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

the  ideal,  are  through  the  agency  of  this  strong  con- 
structive thought  continually  clothing  themselves, 
taking  form,  manifesting  themselves  in  the  material. 
Silent,  unseen  forces  are  at  work  which  will  sooner 
or  later  be  made  manifest  in  the  visible. 

Fear  and  all  thoughts  of  failure  never  suggest 
themselves  to  such  a  man;  or  if  they  do,  they  are 
immediately  sent  out  of  his  mind,  and  so  he  is  not 
influenced  by  this  order  of  thought  from  without. 
He  does  not  attract  it  to  him.  He  is  in  another 
current  of  thought.  Consequently  the  weakening, 
failure-bringing  thoughts  of  the  fearing,  the  vacil- 
lating, the  pessimistic  about  him,  have  no  influence 
upon  him.  The  one  who  is  of  the  negative,  fearing 
kind  not  only  has  his  energies  and  his  physical 
agents  weakened,  or  even  paralyzed  through  the  in- 
fluence of  this  kind  of  thought  that  is  born  within 
him,  but  he  also  in  this  way  connects  himself  with 
this  order  of  thought  in  the  world  about  him.  And  in 
the  degree  that  he  does  this  does  he  become  a  victim 
to  the  weak,  fearing,  negative  minds  all  around  him. 
Instead  of  growing  in  power,  he  increases  in  weak- 
ness. He  is  in  the  same  order  of  thought  with  those 
of  whom  it  is  true — and  even  that  which  they  have 
shall  be  taken  away  from  them.  This  again  is 
simply  the  working  of  a  natural  law,  the  same  as  is 
its  opposite.  Fearing  lest  I  lose  even  what  I  have 
I  hide  it  away  in  a  napkin.  Very  well.  I  must 
then  pay  the  price  of  my  "  fearing  lest  I  lose." 

Thoughts  of  strength  both  build  strength  from 


Courage  and  Fear  163 

within  and  attract  it  from  without.  Thoughts  of 
weakness  actualize  weakness  from  within  and  at- 
tract it  from  without.  Courage  begets  strength, 
fear  begets  weakness.  And  so  courage  begets  suc- 
cess, fear  begets  failure.  It  is  the  man  or  the 
woman  of  faith,  and  hence  of  courage,  who  is  the 
master  of  circumstances,  and  who  makes  his  or  her 
power  felt  in  the  world.  It  is  the  man  or  the  woman 
who  lacks  faith  and  who  as  a  consequence  is  weak- 
ened and  crippled  by  fears  and  forebodings,  who  is 
the  creature  of  all  passing  occurrences. 

What  one  lives  in  his  invisible,  thought  world, 
he  is  continually  actualizing  in  his  visible,  material 
world.  If  he  would  have  any  conditions  different 
in  the  latter  he  must  make  the  necessary  change  in 
the  former.  A  clear  realization  of  this  great  fact 
would  bring  success  to  thousands  of  men  and 
women  who  all  about  us  are  now  in  the  depths  of 
despair.  It  would  bring  health,  abounding  health 
and  strength  to  thousands  now  diseased  and  suffer- 
ing. It  would  bring  peace  and  joy  to  thousands 
now  unhappy  and  ill  at  ease. 

And  oh,  the  thousands  all  about  us  who  are  con- 
tinually living  in  the  slavery  of  fear.  The  spirits 
within  that  should  be  strong  and  powerful,  are 
rendered  weak  and  impotent.  Their  energies  are 
crippled,  their  efforts  are  paralyzed.  "  Fear  is 
everywhere  —  fear  of  want,  fear  of  starvation, 
fear  of  public  opinion,  fear  of  private  opinion, 
fear  that  what  we  own  to-day  may  not  be  ours 


164  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

to-morrow,  fear  of  sickness,  fear  of  death.  Fear 
has  become  with  millions  a  fixed  habit.  The 
thought  is  everywhere.  The  thought  is  thrown 
upon  us  from  every  direction.  ...  To  live  in 
continual  dread,  continual  cringing,  continual  fear 
of  anything,  be  it  loss  of  love,  loss  of  money,  loss 
of  position  or  situation,  is  to  take  the  readiest  means 
to  lose  what  we  fear  we  shall." 

By  fear  nothing  is  to  be  gained,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, everything  is  to  be  lost.  "  I  know  this  is 
true,"  says  one,  "  but  I  am  given  to  fear ;  it's  nat- 
ural to  me  and  I  can't  help  it."  Can't  help  it !  In 
saying  this  you  indicate  one  great  reason  of  your 
fear  by  showing  that  you  do  not  even  know  your- 
self as  yet.  You  must  know  yourself  in  order  to 
know  your  powers,  and  not  until  you  know  them 
can  you  use  them  wisely  and  fully.  Don't  say  you 
can't  help  it.  If  you  think  you  can't,  the  chances 
are  that  you  can't.  If  you  think  you  can,  and  act  in 
accordance  with  this  thought,  then  not  only  are  the 
chances  that  you  can,  but  if  you  act  fully  in  accord- 
ance with  it,  that  you  can  and  that  you  will  is  an 
absolute  certainty.  It  was  Virgil  who  in  describing 
the  crew  which  in  his  mind  would  win  the  race,  said 
of  them — They  can  because  they  think  they  can.  In 
other  words,  this  very  attitude  of  mind  on  their 
part  will  infuse  a  spiritual  power  into  their  bodies 
that  will  give  them  the  strength  and  endurance 
which  will  enable  them  to  win. 

Then   take   the   thought  that  you  can;   take  it 


Courage  and  Fear  165 

merely  as  a  seed-thought,  if  need  be,  plant  it  in 
your  consciousness,  tend  it,  cultivate  it,  and  it  will 
gradually  reach  out  and  gather  strength  from  all 
quarters.  It  will  focus  and  make  positive  and  act- 
ive the  spiritual  force  within  you  that  is  now  scat- 
tered and  of  little  avail.  It  will  draw  to  itself  force 
from  without.  It  will  draw  to  your  aid  the  influ- 
ence of  other  minds  of  its  own  nature,  minds  that 
are  fearless,  strong,  courageous.  You  will  thus 
draw  to  yourself  and  connect  yourself  with  this 
order  of  thought.  If  earnest  and  faithful,  the  time 
will  soon  come  when  all  fear  will  lose  its  hold; 
and  instead  of  being  an  embodiment  of  weakness 
and  a  creature  of  circumstances,  you  will  find  your- 
self a  tower  of  strength  and  a  master  of  circum- 
stances. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XLVII. 

"  AND  WHAT  IS  MINE  SHALL  KNOW  MY 
FACE." 

We  need  more  faith  in  every-day  life — faith  in 
the  power  that  works  for  good,  faith  in  the  Infinite 
God,  and  hence  faith  in  ourselves  created  in  His 
image.  And  however  things  at  times  may  seem  to 
go,  however  dark  at  times  appearances  may  be,  the 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  "  the  Supreme  Power 
has  us  in  its  charge  as  it  has  the  suns  and  endless 
systems  of  worlds  in  space,"  will  give  us  the  su- 
preme faith  that  all  is  well  with  us,  the  same  as  all 
is  well  with  the  world.  "  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in 
perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee.', 

There  is  nothing  firmer,  and  safer,  and  surer 
than  Deity.  Then,  as  we  recognize  the  fact  that 
we  have  it  in  our  own  hands  to  open  ourselves 
ever  more  fully  to  this  Infinite  Power,  and  call  upon 
it  to  manifest  itself  in  and  through  us,  we  will  find 
in  ourselves  an  ever  increasing  sense  of  power. 
For  in  this  way  we  are  working  in  conjunction  with 
it,  and  it  in  turn  is  working  in  conjunction  with 
us.  We  are  then  led  into  the  full  realization  of 
the  fact  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
those  that  love  the  good.     Then  the  fears  and  fore- 


"And  What  is  Mine  shall  know  My  Face"  167 

bodings  that  have  dominated  us  in  the  past  will  be 
transmuted  into  faith,  and  faith  when  rightly  under- 
stood and  rightly  used  is  a  force  before  which  noth- 
ing can  stand. 

Materialism  leads  naturally  to  pessimism.     And 
how  could  it  do  otherwise?     A  knowledge  of  the 
Spiritual  Power  working  in  and  through  us  as  well 
as  in  and  through  all  things,  a  power  that  works  for 
righteousness,  leads  to  optimism.     Pessimism  leads 
to  weakness.     Optimism  leads  to  power.     The  one 
who  is  centred  in  Deity  is  the  one  who  not  only 
outrides  every  storm,  but  who  through  the  faith, 
and  so,  the  conscious  power  that  is  in  him,  faces 
storm  with  the  same  calmness  and  serenity  that  he 
faces  fair  weather;  for  he  knows  well  beforehand 
what  the  outcome  will  be.     He  knows  that  under- 
neath are  the  everlasting  arms.     He  it  is  who  realizes 
the  truth  of  the  injunction,  "  Rest  in  the  Lord,  wait 
patiently  for  Him  and  He  shall  give  thee  thy  heart's 
desire."     All  shall  be  given,  simply  given,  to  him 
who  is  ready  to  accept  it.     Can  anything  be  clearer 
than  this? 

In  the  degree,  then,  that  we  work  in  conjunction 
with  the  Supreme  Power  do  we  need  the  less  to  con- 
cern ourselves  about  results.  To  live  in  the  full 
realization  of  this  fact  and  all  that  attends  it  brings 
peace,  a  full,  rich,  abiding  peace— a  peace  that 
makes  the  present  complete,  and  that,  going  on  be- 
fore, brings  back  the  assurance  that  as  our  days, 
so  shall  our  strength  be.     The  one  who  is  thus 


168  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

centred,  even  in  the  face  of  all  the  unrest  and  the 
turmoil  about  us,  can  realize  and  say: 


"I  stay  my  haste,  I  make  delays, 
For  what  avails  this  eager  pace? 
I  stand  amid  eternal  ways, 
And  what  is  mine  shall  know  my  face. 

"Asleep,  awake,  by  night  or  day, 

The  friends  I  seek  are  seeking  me ; 
No  wind  can  drive  my  bark  astray, 
Nor  change  the  tide  of  destiny. 


"The  waters  know  their  own,  and  draw 

The  brooks  that  spring  in  yonder  height; 
So  flows  the  good  with  equal  law 
Unto  the  soul  of  pure  delight. 

"The  stars  come  nightly  to  the  sky; 
The  tidal  wave  unto  the  sea ; 
Nor  time,  nor  space,  nor  deep,  nor  high, 
Can  keep  my  own  away  from  me." 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XLVIII. 

HEREDITY      AND      ENVIRONMENT— ARE 
WE    BOUND   BY   THEM? 

The  true  secret  of  power  lies  in  keeping  one's 
connection  with  the  God  who  worketh  all  things. 

Whatever  can't  be  done  in  the  physical  can  be 
done  in  the  spiritual.  And  in  direct  proportion  as 
a  man  recognizes  himself  as  spirit,  and  lives  accord- 
ingly, is  he  able  to  transcend  in  power  the  man 
who  recognizes  himself  merely  as  material.  All  the 
sacred  literature  of  the  world  is  teeming  with  ex- 
amples of  what  we  call  miracles.  They  are  not  con- 
fined to  any  particular  times  or  places.  There  is 
no  age  of  miracles  in  distinction  from  any  other 
period  that  may  be  an  age  of  miracles.  Whatever 
has  been  done  in  the  world's  history  can  be  done 
again  through  the  operation  of  the  same  laws  and 
forces.  These  miracles  were  performed  not  by 
those  who  were  more  than  men,  but  by  those  who 
through  the  recognition  of  their  oneness  with  God 
became  God-men,  so  that  the  higher  forces  and 
powers  worked  through  them. 

For  what,  let  us  ask,  is  a  miracle?  Is  it  some- 
thing supernatural?  Supernatural  only  in  the 
sense  of  being  above  the  natural,  or  rather,  above 


170  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

that  which  is  natural  to  man  in  his  ordinary  state. 
A  miracle  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  this.  One 
who  has  come  into  a  knowledge  of  his  true  identity, 
of  his  oneness  with  the  all-pervading  Wisdom  and 
Power,  thus  makes  it  possible  for  laws  higher  than 
the  ordinary  mind  knows  of  to  be  revealed  to  him. 
These  laws  he  makes  use  of ;  the  people  see  the  re- 
sults, and  by  virtue  of  their  own  limitations,  call 
them  miracles  and  speak  of  the  person  who  performs 
these  apparently  supernatural  works  as  a  supernat- 
ural being.  But  they  as  supernatural  beings  could 
themselves  perform  these  supernatural  works  if 
they  would  open  themselves  to  the  recognition  of  the 
same  laws,  and  consequently  to  the  realization  of 
the  same  possibilities  and  powers.  And  let  us  also 
remember  that  the  supernatural  of  yesterday  be- 
comes, as  in  the  process  of  evolution  we  advance 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  from  the  more 
material  to  the  more  spiritual,  the  common  and  the 
natural  of  to-day,  and  what  seems  to  be  the  super- 
natural of  to-day  becomes  in  the  same  way  the  nat- 
ural of  to-morrow,  and  so  on  through  the  ages. 
Yes,  it  is  the  God-man  who  does  the  things  that 
appear  supernatural,  the  man  who  by  virtue  of  his 
realization  of  the  higher  powers  transcends  the  ma- 
jority and  so  stands  out  among  them.  But  any 
power  that  is  possible  to  one  human  soul  is  possible 
to  another.  The  same  laws  operate  in  every  life. 
We  can  be  men  and  women  of  power  or  we  can  be 
men  and  women  of  impotence.     The  moment  one 


Heredity  and  Environment  171 

vitally  grasps  the  fact  that  he  can  rise  he  will  rise, 
and  he  can  have  absolutely  no  limitations  other  than 
the  limitations  he  sets  to  himself.  Cream  always 
rises  to  the  top.  It  rises  simply  because  it  is  the 
nature  of  cream  to  rise. 

We  hear  much  said  of  "  environment."  We  need 
to  realize  that  environment  should  never  be  allowed 
to  make  the  man,  but  that  man  should  always,  and 
always  can,  condition  the  environment.  When  we 
realize  this  we  will  find  that  many  times  it  is  not 
necessary  to  take  ourselves  out  of  any  particular 
environment,  because  we  may  yet  have  a  work  to 
do  there;  but  by  the  very  force  we  carry  with  us 
we  can  so  affect  and  change  matters  that  we  will 
have  an  entirely  new  set  of  conditions  in  an  old 
environment. 

The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  "hereditary" 
traits  and  influences.  We  sometimes  hear  the 
question  asked,  "Can  they  be  overcome?"  Only 
the  one  who  doesn't  yet  know  himself  can  ask  a 
question  such  as  this.  If  we  entertain  and  live  in 
the  belief  that  they  cannot  be  overcome,  then  the 
chances  are  that  they  will  always  remain.  The  mo- 
ment, however,  that  we  come  into  a  realization  of 
our  true  selves,  and  so  of  the  tremendous  powers 
and  forces  within— the  powers  and  forces  of  the 
mind  and  spirit — hereditary  traits  and  influences 
that  are  harmful  in  nature  will  begin  to  lessen,  and 
will  disappear  with  a  rapidity  directly  in  proportion 
to  the  completeness  of  this  realization. 


172  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

There  is  no  thing  we  cannot  overcome ; 

Say  not  thy  evil  instinct  is  inherited, 
Or  that  some  trait  inborn  makes  thy  whole  life  for- 
lorn, 

And  calls  down  punishment  that  is  not  merited. 

Back  of  thy  parents  and  grandparents  lies 
The  Great  Eternal  Will!     That  too  is  thine 
Inheritance, — strong,  beautiful,  divine, 

Sure  lever  of  success  for  one  who  tries. 

Earth  has  no  claim  the  soul  cannot  contest; 

Know  thyself  part  of  the  Eternal  Source; 

Naught  can  stand  before  thy  spirit's  force: 
The  soul's  Divine  Inheritance  is  best." 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


XLIX. 
PRESERVING  ONE'S  INDIVIDUALITY. 

Again  there  are  many  who  are  living  far  below 
their  possibilities  because  they  are  continually  hand- 
ing over  their  individualities  to  others.  Do  you 
want  to  be  a  power  in  the  world?  Then  be  your- 
self. Don't  class  yourself,  don't  allow  yourself  to 
be  classed  among  the  second-hand,  among  the  they- 
say  people.  Be  true  to  the  highest  within  your  own 
soul,  and  then  allow  yourself  to  be  governed  by  no 
customs  or  conventionalities  or  arbitrary  man-made 
rules  that  are  not  founded  upon  principle.  Those 
things  that  are  founded  upon  principle  will  be  ob- 
served by  the  right-minded,  the  right-hearted  man 
or  woman,  in  any  case. 

Don't  surrender  your  individuality,  which  is  your 
greatest  agent  of  power,  to  the  customs  and  conven- 
tionalities that  have  gotten  their  life  from  the  great 
mass  of  those  who  haven't  enough  force  to  preserve 
their  individualities — those  who  in  other  words 
have  given  them  over  as  ingredients  to  the  "  mush 
of  concession  "  which  one  of  our  greatest  writers 
has  said  characterizes  our  modern  society.  If  you 
do  surrender  your  individuality  in  this  way,  you 
simply  aid  in  increasing  the  undesirable  conditions ; 
in  payment  for  this  you  become  a  slave,  and  the 


174  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

chances  are  that  in  time  you  will  be  unable  to  hold 
even  the  respect  of  those  whom  you  in  this  way  try 
to  please. 

If  you  preserve  your  individuality  then  you  be- 
come a  master,  and  if  wise  and  discreet,  your  influ- 
ence and  power  will  be  an  aid  in  bringing  about  a 
higher,  a  better,  and  a  more  healthy  set  of  condi- 
tions in  the  world.  All  people,  moreover,  will 
think  more  of  you,  will  honor  you  more  highly  for 
doing  this  than  if  you  show  your  weakness  by  con- 
tributing yourself  to  the  same  "  mush  of  conces- 
sion "  that  so  many  of  them  are  contributing  them- 
selves to.  With  all  classes  of  people  you  will  then 
have  an  influence.  "  A  great  style  of  hero  draws 
equally  all  classes,  all  extremes  of  society  to  him, 
till  we  say  the  very  dogs  believe  in  him.,, 

To  be  one's  self  is  the  only  worthy,  and  by  all 
means  the  only  satisfactory,  thing  to  be. 

"  When  we  appeal  to  the  Supreme  and  our  life 
is  governed  by  a  principle,  we  are  not  governed 
either  by  fear  of  public  opinion  or  loss  of  others' 
approbation,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  Supreme 
will  sustain  us.  If  in  any  way  we  try  to  live  to  suit 
others  we  never  shall  suit  them,  and  the  more  we 
try  the  more  unreasonable  and  exacting  do  they  be- 
come. The  government  of  your  life  is  a  matter 
that  lies  entirely  between  God  and  yourself,  and 
when  your  life  is  swayed  and  influenced  from  any 
other  source  you  are  on  the  wrong  path."  When 
we  find  the  kingdom  within  and  become  centred  in 


Preserving  One's  Individuality  175 

the  Infinite,  then  we  become  a  law  unto  ourselves. 
When  we  become  a  law  unto  ourselves,  then  we  are 
able  to  bring  others  to  a  knowledge  of  laws  higher 
than  they  are  governed  or  many  times  even  enslaved 
by. 

When  we  have  found  this  centre,  then  that  beau- 
tiful simplicity,  at  once  the  charm  and  the  power 
of  a  truly  great  personality,  enters  into  our  lives. 
Then  all  striving  for  effect — that  sure  indicator  of 
weakness  and  a  lack  of  genuine  power — is  absent. 
This  striving  for  effect  that  is  so  common  is  always 
an  indicator  of  a  lack  of  something.  It  brings  to 
mind  the  man  who  rides  behind  a  dock-tailed  horse. 
Conscious  of  the  fact  that  there  is  not  enough  in 
himself  to  attract  attention,  in  common  with  a  num- 
ber of  other  weaklings,  he  adopts  the  brutal  method 
of  having  his  horse's  tail  sawed  off,  that  its  unnat- 
ural, odd  appearance  may  attract  from  people  the 
attention  that  he  of  himself  is  unable  to  secure. 

But  the  one  who  strives  for  effect  is  always 
fooled  more  than  he  succeeds  in  fooling  others. 
The  man  and  the  woman  of  true  wisdom  and  in- 
sight can  always  see  the  causes  that  prompt,  the 
motives  that  underlie  the  acts  of  all  with  whom  he 
or  she  comes  in  contact.  "  He  is  great  who  is  what 
he  is  from  nature  and  who  never  reminds  us  of 
others." 

The  men  and  the  women  who  are  truly  awake  to 
the  real  powers  within  are  the  men  and  women  who 
seem  to  be  doing  so  little,  yet  who  in  reality  are 


176  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

doing  so  much.  They  seem  to  be  doing  so  little 
because  they  are  working  with  higher  agencies,  and 
yet  are  doing  so  much  because  of  this  very  fact. 
They  do  their  work  on  the  higher  plane.  They 
keep  so  completely  their  connection  with  the  Infinite 
Power  that  It  does  the  work  for  them  and  they  are 
relieved  of  the  responsibility.  They  are  the  care- 
less people.  They  are  careless  because  it  is  the  In- 
finite Power  that  is  working  through  them,  and  with 
this  Infinite  Power  they  are  simply  co-operating. 
In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


L. 

EXCLUSIVENESS    AND    INCLUSIVENESS : 
WHAT  THEY  INDICATE. 

When  we  come  fully  to  realize  the  great  fact 
that  all  evil  and  error  and  sin  with  all  their  conse- 
quent sufferings  come  through  ignorance,  then 
wherever  we  see  a  manifestation  of  these  in  what- 
ever form,  if  our  hearts  are  right,  we  will  have  com- 
passion— sympathy  and  compassion  for  the  one  in 
whom  we  see  them.  Compassion  will  then  change 
itself  into  love,  and  love  will  manifest  itself  in  kindly 
service.  Such  is  the  divine  method.  And  so  in- 
stead of  aiding  in  trampling  and  keeping  a  weaker 
one  down,  we  will  hold  him  up  until  he  can  stand 
alone  and  become  the  master. 

By  example  and  not  by  precept.  By  living,  not 
by  preaching.  By  doing,  not  by  professing.  By 
living  the  life,  not  by  dogmatizing  as  to  how  it 
should  be  lived.  There  is  no  contagion  equal  to  the 
contagion  of  life.  Whatever  we  sow,  that  shall  we 
also  reap,  and  each  thing  sown  produces  of  its  kind. 
We  can  kill  not  only  by  doing  another  bodily  injury 
directly,  but  we  can  and  we  do  kill  by  every  antag- 
onistic thought.  Not  only  do  we  thus  kill,  but 
while  we  kill  we  suicide.  Many  a  man  has  been 
made  sick  by  having  the  ill  thoughts  of  a  number  of 


178  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

people  centred  upon  him;  some  have  been  actually 
killed.  Put  hatred  into  the  world  and  we  make  it 
a  literal  hell.  Put  love  into  the  world  and  heaven 
with  all  its  beauties  and  glories  becomes  a  reality. 

Not  to  love  is  not  to  live,  or  it  is  to  live  a  living 
death.  The  life  that  goes  out  in  love  to  all  is  the 
life  that  is  full,  and  rich,  and  continually  expanding 
in  beauty  and  in  power.  Such  is  the  life  that  be- 
comes ever  more  inclusive,  and  hence  larger  in  its 
scope  and  influence.  The  larger  the  man  and  the 
woman,  the  more  inclusive  they  are  in  their  love 
and  their  friendships.  The  smaller  the  man  and  the 
woman,  the  more  dwarfed  and  dwindling  their  na- 
tures, the  more  they  pride  themselves  upon  their 
"  exclusiveness."  Any  one — a  fool  or  an  idiot — 
can  be  exclusive.  It  comes  easy.  It  takes  and  it 
signifies  a  large  nature  to  be  universal,  to  be  inclu- 
sive. Only  the  man  or  the  woman  of  a  small,  per- 
sonal, self-centred,  self-seeking  nature  is  exclusive. 
The  man  or  the  woman  of  a  large,  royal,  unself- 
centred  nature  never  is.  The  small  nature  is  the 
one  that  continually  strives  for  effect.  The  larger 
nature  never  does.  The  one  goes  here  and  there  in 
order  to  gain  recognition,  in  order  to  attach  him- 
self to  the  world.  The  other  stays  at  home  and 
draws  the  world  to  him.  The  one  loves  merely  him- 
self. The  other  loves  all  the  world ;  but  in  his  larger 
love  for  all  the  world  he  finds  himself  included. 

Verily,  then,  the  more  one  loves  the  nearer  he  ap- 
proaches to  God,  for  God  is  the  spirit  of  infinite  love. 


Exclusivencss  and  Inclusivcncss  179 

And  when  we  come  into  the  realization  of  our  one- 
ness with  this  Infinite  Spirit,  then  divine  love  so  fills 
us  that,  enriching  and  enrapturing  our  own  lives, 
from  them  it  flows  out  to  enrich  the  life  of  all  the 
world. 

In  coming  into  the  realization  of  our  oneness  with 
the  Infinite  Life,  we  are  brought  at  once  into  right 
relations  with  our  fellowmen.  We  are  brought  into 
harmony  with  the  great  law,  that  we  find  our  own 
lives  in  losing  them  in  the  service  of  others.  We 
are  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  all  life 
is  one,  and  so  that  we  are  all  parts  of  the  one  great 
whole.  We  then  realize  that  we  can't  do  for  another 
without  at  the  same  time  doing  for  ourselves.  We 
also  realize  that  we  cannot  do  harm  to  another  with- 
out by  that  very  act  doing  harm  to  ourselves.  We 
realize  that  the  man  who  lives  to  himself  alone  lives 
a  little,  dwarfed,  and  stunted  life,  because  he  has  no 
part  in  this  larger  life  of  humanity.  But  the  one 
who  in  service  loses  his  own  life  in  this  larger  life, 
has  his  own  life  increased  and  enriched  a  thousand 
or  a  million  fold,  and  every  joy,  every  happiness, 
everything  of  value  coming  to  each  member  of  this 
greater  whole  comes  as  such  to  him,  for  he  has  a 
part  in  the  life  of  each  and  all. 

And  here  let  a  word  be  said  in  regard  to  true 
service.  Peter  and  John  were  one  day  going  up  to 
the  temple,  and  as  they  were  entering  the  gate  they 
were  met  by  a  poor  cripple  who  asked  them  for 
alms.     Instead  of  giving  him  something  to  supply 


180  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

the  day's  needs  and  then  leaving  him  in  the  same 
dependent  condition  for  the  morrow  and  the  mor- 
row, Peter  did  him  a  real  service,  and  a  real  serv- 
ice for  all  mankind  by  saying :  Silver  and  gold  have 
I  none,  but  such  as  I  have  I  give  unto  thee.  And 
then  he  made  him  whole.  He  thus  brought  him  into 
the  condition  where  he  could  help  himself.  In  other 
words,  the  greatest  service  we  can  do  for  another 
is  to  help  him  to  help  himself.  To  help  him  directly 
might  be  weakening,  though  not  necessarily.  It 
depends  entirely  upon  circumstances.  But  to  help 
one  to  help  himself  is  never  weakening,  but  always 
encouraging  and  strengthening,  because  it  leads 
him  to  a  larger  and  stronger  life. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


LI. 

THE    NATURE   OF   REAL   RICHES. 

The  one  who  has  come  into  the  realization  of  the 
higher  life  no  longer  has  a  desire  for  the  accumu- 
lation of  enormous  wealth,  any  more  than  he  has  a 
desire  for  any  other  excess.  In  the  degree  that  he 
comes  into  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  he  is 
wealthy  within,  external  wealth  becomes  less  im- 
portant in  his  estimation.  When  he  comes  into  the 
realization  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  source  within 
from  which  he  can  put  forth  a  power  to  call  to  him 
and  actualize  in  his  hands  at  any  time  a  sufficient 
supply  for  all  his  needs,  he  no  longer  burdens  him- 
self with  vast  material  accumulations  that  require 
his  constant  care  and  attention,  and  thus  take  his 
time  and  his  thought  from  the  real  things  of  life. 
In  other  words,  he  first  finds  the  kingdom,  and  he 
realizes  that  when  he  has  found  this,  all  other 
things  follow  in  full  measure. 

Wealth  beyond  a  certain  amount  cannot  be  used, 
and  when  it  cannot  be  used  it  then  becomes  a  hind- 
rance rather  than  an  aid,  a  curse  rather  than  a  bless- 
ing. All  about  us  are  persons  with  lives  now 
stunted  and  dwarfed  who  could  make  them  rich  and 
beautiful,  filled  with  a  perennial  joy,  if  they  would 


1 82  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

begin  wisely  to  use  that  which  they  have  spent  the 
greater  portion  of  their  lives  in  accumulating. 

The  man  who  accumulates  during  his  entire  life, 
and  who  leaves  even  all  when  he  goes  out  for 
"  benevolent  purposes,"  comes  far  short  of  the  ideal 
life.  It  is  but  a  poor  excuse  of  a  life.  It  is  not 
especially  commendable  in  me  to  give  a  pair  of  old, 
worn-out  shoes  that  I  shall  never  use  again  to  an- 
other who  is  in  need  of  shoes.  But  it  is  commend- 
able, if  indeed  doing  anything  we  ought  to  do  can 
be  spoken  of  as  being  commendable,  it  is  commend- 
able for  me  to  give  a  good  pair  of  strong  shoes  to  the 
man  who  in  the  midst  of  a  severe  winter  is  practi- 
cally shoeless,  the  man  who  is  exerting  every  effort 
to  earn  an  honest  living  and  thereby  take  care  of  his 
family's  needs.  And  if  in  giving  the  shoes  I  also 
give  myself,  he  then  has  a  double  gift,  and  I  a 
double  blessing. 

There  is  no  wiser  use  that  those  who  have  great 
accumulations  can  make  of  them  than  wisely  to  put 
them  into  life,  into  character,  day  by  day  while  they 
live.  In  this  way  their  lives  will  be  continually  en- 
riched and  increased.  The  time  will  come  when  it 
will  be  regarded  as  a  disgrace  for  a  man  to  die  and 
leave  vast  accumulations  behind  him. 

Many  a  person  is  living  in  a  palace  to-day  who 
in  the  real  life  is  poorer  than  many  a  one  who  has 
not  even  a  roof  to  cover  him.  A  man  may  own  and 
live  in  a  palace,  but  the  palace  for  him  may  be  a 
poorhouse  still. 


The  Nature  of  Real  Riehes  183 

Moth  and  rust  are  nature's  wise  provisions — 
God's  methods  —  for  disintegrating  and  scattering, 
in  this  way  getting  ready  for  use  in  new  forms,  that 
which  is  hoarded  and  consequently  serving  no  use. 
There  is  also  a  great  law  continually  operating 
whose  effects  are  to  dwarf  and  deaden  the  powers 
of  true  enjoyment,  as  well  as  all  the  higher  facul- 
ties of  the  one  who  hoards. 

Multitudes  of  people  are  continually  keeping  away 
from  them  higher  and  better  things  because  they 
are  forever  clinging  on  to  the  old.  If  they  would 
use  and  pass  on  the  old,  room  would  be  made  for 
new  things  to  come.  Hoarding  always  brings  loss 
in  one  form  or  another.  Using,  wisely  using,  brings 
an  ever  renewing  gain. 

If  the  tree  should  as  ignorantly  and  as  greed- 
ily hold  on  to  this  year's  leaves  when  they  have 
served  their  purpose,  where  would  be  the  full  and 
beautiful  new  life  that  will  be  put  forth  in  the 
spring?  Gradual  decay  and  finally  death  would  be 
the  result.  If  the  tree  is  already  dead,  then  it  may 
perhaps  be  well  enough  for  it  to  cling  on  to  the  old, 
for  no  new  leaves  will  come.  But  as  long  as  the  life 
in  the  tree  is  active,  it  is  necessary  that  it  rid  itself 
of  the  old  ones,  that  room  may  be  made  for  the  new. 

Opulence  is  the  law  of  the  universe,  an  abundant 
supply  for  every  need  if  nothing  is  put  in  the  way  of 
its  coming.  The  natural  and  the  normal  life  for  us 
is  this  —  To  have  such  a  fulness  of  life  and  power 
by  living  so  continually  in  the  realization  of  our 


1 84  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

oneness  with  the  Infinite  Life  and  Power  that  we 
find  ourselves  in  the  constant  possession  of  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  all  things  needed. 

Then  not  by  hoarding  but  by  wisely  using  and  rid- 
ding ourselves  of  things  as  they  come,  an  ever  re- 
newing supply  will  be  ours,  a  supply  far  better 
adapted  to  present  needs  than  the  old  could  possibly 
be.  In  this  way  we  not  only  come  into  possession 
of  the  richest  treasures  of  the  Infinite  Good  our- 
selves, but  we  also  become  open  channels  through 
which  they  can  flow  to  others. 

In  Tune  with  the  Infinite. 


LII. 
A  METHOD  OF  ATTAINMENT. 

A  living  insight  into  the  fact  of  the  essential  unity 
of  the  human  life  with  the  Divine  Life  is  the  pro- 
foundest  knowledge  that  man  can  attain  to.  This 
as  a  mere  intellectual  perception,  however,  as  a  mere 
dead  theory,  amounts  to  but  little,  if  indeed  to  any- 
thing at  all,  so  far  as  bearing  fruit  in  every-day  life 
is  concerned.  It  is  the  vital,  living  realization  of 
this  great  transcendent  truth  in  the  life  of  each  one 
that  makes  it  a  mighty  moving  and  moulding  force 
in  his  life. 

It  is  only  through  this  living  realization  of  the 
essential  unity  of  our  life  with  the  Father's  life  that 
true  blessedness,  and  even  true  peace  and  happiness, 
can  be  found.  The  sooner,  then,  that  we  come  into 
it,  and  thus  live  the  life  of  the  spirit,  the  better,  for 
neither  will  they  come  nor  can  they  be  found  in  any 
other  way.  There  is,  moreover,  no  time  either  in 
this  form  of  life,  or  in  any  other  form,  that  we  can 
any  more  readily  come  into  it,  and  thereby  into  all 
that  follows.  And  when  this  fountain  of  Divine 
Life  is  once  fully  opened  within  us,  it  can  never 
again  be  dried  up,  and  we  can  rest  assured  that  it 
will  at  all  times  uphold  us  in  peace  and  bear  us  on 
in  safety.     And  however  strange  or  unaccountable 


1 86  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

at  times  occurrences  may  appear,  we  can  rest  in  a 
triumphant  security,  knowing  that  only  good  can 
come,  for  in  God's  life  there  is  only  good,  and  in 
God's  life  we  are  now  living,  and  there  we  shall  live 
forever. 

There  is  a  simple  method  which  will  aid  us 
greatly  in  coming  into  the  realization  we  have  been 
considering.  So  simple  is  it  that  thousands  and  in- 
deed millions  have  passed  it  by,  looking,  as  is  so 
generally  our  custom,  for  agencies  of  at  least  appar- 
ently greater  power ;  we  so  frequently  and  so  univer- 
sally forget  that  the  greatest  things  in  life  are  the 
most  simple. 

The  method  is  this :  wherever  you  are,  whatever 
doing,  walking  along  the  street  or  through  the  fields, 
at  work  of  any  kind,  falling  off  to  or  awaking  from 
sleep,  setting  about  any  undertaking,  in  doubt  as  to 
what  course  to  pursue  at  any  particular  time,  in 
brief,  whatever  it  may  be,  carry  with  you  this 
thought:  It  is  the  Father  that  worketh  in  me,  my 
Father  works  and  I  work.  This  is  the  thought  so 
continually  used  by  Jesus,  who  came  into  the  fullest 
realization  of  the  oneness  of  his  life  with  the  God- 
life  that  any  one  who  has  lived  in  the  world  thus 
far  has  come  into,  and  it  is  given  because  it  is  so 
simple.  From  it  each  can  make  his  own  formula. 
Jesus'  term  was  "  the  Father."  Many  will  likewise 
find  themselves  naturally  using  the  same  term  and 
will  find  it  becoming  very  precious  to  them.  Others 
will  find  themselves  using  other  terms  for  the  same 


A  Method  of  Attainment  187 

conception  and  thought :  It  is  the  Father  that 
worketh  in  mc,  my  Father  works  and  I  work.  In 
other  words,  It  is  the  spirit  of  Infinite  Life  and 
Power  that  is  back  of  all,  working  in  and  through 
all,  the  life  and  animating  power  of  all — God — that 
worketh  in  me,  and  I  do  as  I  am  directed  and  em- 
powered by  It. 

In  this  way  we  open  ourselves,  and  become  con- 
sciously awake  to  the  Infinite  Life  and  Power  that 
is  ever  waiting  and  ready  to  direct  and  work  in  our 
lives,  if  we  will  merely  put  ourselves  into  the  atti- 
tude whereby  It  can  work  in  them.  In  this  way  we 
open  ourselves  so  that  It  can  speak  and  manifest 
to  and  through  us.  This  It  is  ever  ready  to  do  if 
we  will  but  make  for  It  the  right  conditions.  By 
carrying  with  us  this  thought,  by  holding  ourselves 
in  this  attitude  of  mind  consciously  for  awhile,  by 
repeating  it  even  in  so  many  words  now  and  then 
at  first,  we  will  find  it  in  time  becoming  our  habitual 
thought,  and  will  find  ourselves  living  in  it  without 
the  conscious  effort  that  we  have  to  make  at  first, 
and  we  will  in  time  find  ourselves  almost  uncon- 
sciously living  in  it  continually.  Thus  God  as  a 
living  presence,  as  a  guiding,  animating  power,  be- 
comes an  actuality  in  our  lives.  The  conscious 
presence  of  God  in  our  lives,  which  is  the  essence, 
indeed  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  religion,  then 
becomes  a  reality,  and  all  wisdom  and  all  power  will 
be  given  us  as  we  are  able  to  appropriate  and  use 
them  wisely;  if  for  merely  selfish,  personal  ends, 


1 88  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

they  will  be  withheld;  if  for  the  greatest  aid  and 
service  for  the  world,  we  will  find  them  continually 
increasing. 

With  this  higher  realization  comes  more  and 
more  the  simple,  child-like  spirit.  With  Jesus  we 
realize — Of  myself  I  can  do  nothing,  it  is  the  Father 
within  me  that  doeth  His  work.  In  ourselves  we 
are  and  can  do  nothing ;  in  God  we  can  do  all  things. 
We  never  can  be  in  the  condition — in  God — until 
through  this  higher  realization  God  becomes  a  con- 
scious, living  reality  in  our  lives. 

Faithfulness  to  this  simple  method  will  bring 
about  a  complete  change  in  great  numbers  of  lives. 
Each  one  for  himself  can  test  its  efficacy  in  a  very 
short  time.  It  is  the  highway  upon  which  many 
will  enter  that  will  by  easy  stages  take  them  into  the 
realization  of  the  highest  life  that  can  be  attained 
to.  To  set  one's  face  in  the  right  direction,  and 
then  simply  to  travel  on,  will  in  time  bring  him  into 
the  realization  of  the  highest  life  that  can  be  even 
conceived  of — it  is  the  secret  of  all  attainment. 
The  Greatest  Thing  Ever  Known. 


A    SORT    OF   CREED. 

To  be  observed  to-day,  or  in  part;  to  be  changed  to-morrow — 
or  abandoned — if  the  light  is  better. 

To  live  to  our  highest  in  all  things  that  pertain  to  us; 

To  lend  a  hand  as  best  we  can  to  all  others  for  this 
iame  end ; 

To  aid  in  righting  the  wrongs  that  cross  our  path  by- 
pointing  the  wrong-doer  to  a  better  way,  and  thus  aid  him 
«7i  becoming  a  power  for  good ; 

To  remain  in  nature  always  sweet  and  simple  and  hum- 
ble, and  therefore  strong; 

To  open  ourselves  fully  and  to  keep  ourselves  pure  and 
clean  as  fit  channels  for  the  Divine  Power  to  work  through 
us; 

To  turn  toward  and  keep  our  faces  always  to  the  light; 

To  do  our  own  thinking,  listening  quietly  to  the  opinions 
of  others,  and  to  be  sufficiently  men  and  women  to  act 
arways  upon  our  own  convictions; 

To  do  our  duty  as  we  see  it,  regardless  of  the  opinions  of 
others,  seeming  gain  or  loss,  temporary  blame  or  praise; 

To  play  the  part  of  neither  knave  nor  fool  by  attempt- 
ing to  judge  another,  but  to  give  that  same  time  to  living 
more  worthily  ourselves ; 

To  get  up  immediately  when  wre  stumble,  face  again 
to  the  light,  and  travel  on  without  wasting  even  a  moment 
in  regret; 

To  love  all  things  and  to  stand  in  awe  or  fear  of  nothing 
save  our  own  wrong-doing ; 

To  recognize  the  good  lying  at  the  heart  of  all  people,  of 
all  things,  waiting  for  expression,  all  in  its  own  good  way 
and  time ; 

To  love  the  fields  and  the  wild  flowers,  the  stars,  the  far- 
open  sea,  the  soft,  warm  earth,  and  to  live  much  with  them 


190  This  Mystical  Life  of  Ours 

alone,  but  to  love  struggling  and  weary  men  and  women 
and  every  pulsing  living  creature  better; 

To  strive  always  to  do  unto  others  as  we  would  have 
them  do  unto  us. 

In  brief — to  be  honest,  to  be  fearless,  to  be  just,  to  be 
kind.  This  will  make  our  part  in  life's  great  and  as  yet 
not  fully  understood  play  truly  glorious,  and  we  need  then 
stand  in  fear  of  nothing — life  nor  death;  for  death  is  life. 

Or,  rather,  it  is  the  quick  transition  to  life  in  another 
form ;  the  putting  off  of  the  old  coat  and  the  putting  on  of  a 
new ;  a  passing  not  from  light  to  darkness  but  from  light  to 
light,  according  as  we  have  lived  here ;  a  taking  up  of  life  in 
another  form  just  where  we  leave  it  off  here;  a  part  in  life 
not  to  be  shunned  or  dreaded  or  feared,  but  to  be  welcomed 
with  a  glad  and  ready  smile  when  it  comes  in  its  own  good 
way  and  time. 


T,V7"r,T?«ITY  OTT^"  XW>PNTA.  L    -  rv  <  ->v 


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